Soul of Fire
by MasterGhandalf
Summary: Sequel to 'Path of Fire'. The renegade warlord Jian Chin marches towards Ba Sing Se, backed by a mysterious and powerful spirit. Azula and the Gaang must join forces to stop him.
1. Prologue: War

**Soul of Fire**

**Prologue: War**

He first came into being more than a century ago.

True, in some sense he had existed long before that- existed for as long as the will to quarrel amongst themselves had existed among mortals, which was to say from the beginning. But when Fire Lord Sozin had given the order that the Air Nomads were to be destroyed in order to prevent the rise of a new Avatar, the world had shifted permanently. And because the Spirit World and the mortal world reflected one another, that shift had sent shockwaves across them both. In the aftermath of that cataclysm he arose- Zhan Zheng, the spirit of war.

For a century he hung on the fringes of the two worlds, basking in the chaos and destruction that fuelled his essence. But then the unthinkable happened- the Avatar, incarnate guardian of the balance and thus his natural enemy- returned from obscurity and vanquished Fire Lord Ozai utterly. To mortals those events took months, but from a spirit's timeless perception they happened in an eyeblink. For the first time in his existence, Zhan Zheng knew fear.

Spirits embodied the powers at work in the mortal world, and even as the Moon Spirit might be crippled by the loss of the celestial body to which she was bound, or a nature spirit broken by the devastation of its territory, the advent of peace threatened an ending to the incarnation of War. He knew that in order to preserve his own existence and power he had to act- and thankfully, the foolish mortals seemed all to eager to assist him.

He ensnared a delusional Fire Nation general named Azun, convincing him with visions that he was Agni, patron spirit of the firebenders. Azun would have begun the war anew, but he was foiled by the Avatar, and by another, a mortal Zhan Zheng had instructed him to seek out, the one who was closer to the spirit's heart than any other mortal alive. He tried to turn her to his cause and failed, but he was patient, and knew that her time would come.

During the last days of the War, he had claimed the soul of a girl in Ba Sing Se who had been made into a hollowed out puppet for the city's controlling power, the Dai Li. She was filled with hate and rage, and after Azun's failure he decided that through her he could force the world back towards war. She led him to Long Feng, head of the Dai Li, but the earthbender proved too cold-blooded to make an effective pawn. Zhan Zheng was not sad when the girl Wei Ming killed him. Though it had been Long Feng who had most directly ruined her life, some of Zhan Zheng's interest for another mortal bled over into her, and she became obsessed with destroying her.

Again the fascinating mortal proved triumphant, driving the spirit from his pawn's body with searing lightning. But she then provided him with the key to victory- an ambitious warlord hovering on the edge between life and death. Zhan Zheng could only communicate with certain kinds of mortals, normally- the spiritually sensitive, the insane, and the dying who stood on the threshold between worlds. It was easy to trick the warlord into allowing him to possess his body in return for healing.

Like all spirits, Zhan Zheng possessed great power, and he could use it to enhance the abilities of his mortal pawns. To Wei Ming, come from the dark pits of Lake Laogai, he was able to bestow the ability to call shadows and disappear, in addition to turning an untrained peasant into one of the deadliest warriors alive. With the warlord Jian Chin the effects were much more dramatic, his already potent combat skills and earthbending enhanced a hundredfold, and his brutish mind aided by a far greater intellect.

To travel to Ba Sing Se, capital of the largest nation in the world, and shatter it was the spirit's goal now, one that Jian Chin in his foolish drive for glory proved most pliable. But there remained two faces that haunted Zhan Zheng's mind, mortals that could not be ignored. One was the Avatar, vessel of his immortal enemy. The other was a girl who was powerful, cunning, and ruthless, born of the bloodline to which he owed his very existence. So closely did she align with his own desires that she might have been made for him. In the end, he vowed, she would be made to come to him, and he would cast off Jian Chin like the refuse that he was and claim her as his link with the mortal world.

And if she refused, then Princess Azula, like the Avatar and all others who thought they could build a lasting peace among mortals, would soon learn the utter magnitude of her folly.


	2. Chapter 1: Awakening

**Chapter 1: Awakening**

_She crouched in darkness, hands held at the ready to unleash fire at her attackers. She couldn't see them, but she knew they were there, circling beyond the range of her sight. They wanted to kill her- she didn't know why, but she wasn't going to let it happen. By Agni, she was going to _live!

_The earth suddenly heaved beneath her feet and she collapsed to her knees. Looking up, she saw her enemies towering above her. One was a girl, pale as death but wrapped in a cloak the color of shadow, her violet eyes burning with hatred. The other was a huge man in a gaudy uniform, his brutal features twisted into an expression of cruel amusement. _

_She knew them now- Wei Ming, Jian Chin. _

_Scrambling to her feet, she launched blasts of blue flame at both opponents. They merely smiled as the fire washed over them and left them unharmed. "You can't hurt us, princess," Wei Ming said. "Tell me, how does it feel to be helpless?" _

_"I'm never helpless," the girl snarled in reply, but before she could attack Jian Chin caught her wrists in his massive hands and slammed her back against a rocky wall. Wei Ming advanced slowly, her unsheathed knives gleaming even though there was no source of light. _

_"There's no one here to hear you scream," the shadow-girl whispered as she raised her blades high. The princess tensed herself for the pain, but it never came. Instead a great light seemed to build all around them, swallowing both attackers and the darkness that surrounded them. She could feel that it had power, but that somehow it wasn't dangerous to her. Rather it was comforting, soothing. _

_She let it swallow her too. _

############

Azula winced and opened her eyes slowly. The last thing she remembered was watching the warlord Jian Chin falling to his doom from atop the crumbling wall of his own fortress. She'd been battered and bruised already from her duel with Wei Ming in the caverns below, and despite her best efforts she'd used too much of her firebending power too quickly. Willpower had been all that kept her going, and as soon as her goal was accomplished it had ceased to be enough. Azula had collapsed to what remained of the warlord's courtyard in a dead faint.

Now she seemed to be lying on her back on the floor of a forest. Because she didn't know how long she'd been out, Azula wasn't sure where she was and decided she had best sit up to get a better look. Slowly the princess pulled herself into a sitting position, dreading what she knew must be imminent pain in her side- she was certain Wei Ming had broken at least one of her ribs- but before she had a chance to notice either location or pain she felt something slam into her and wrap her in a tight embrace.

"Azula!" A familiar voice said. "You're awake! You're alive!"

"Something I won't be much longer if you don't stop cutting off my air," the princess managed to gasp out. Ty Lee pulled back, an apologetic look crossing her expressive face.

"Sorry," the acrobat said. "It's just that I've never seen you get beat up that bad before, and even after your mom did that weird glowy healing thing I was worried about you."

"How long was I- wait," Azula said. "What do you mean "glowy healing thing'?"

Ty Lee shrugged. "I don't really know how to explain it, but when your mom saw how hurt you were she held her hands out over you, and then there was this light- and when it cleared, you were better!"

Azula shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense. Firebending doesn't have healing power- only waterbending does. If it could heal, surely one of the master benders would have discovered it during the war."

"That's what Shin said," Ty Lee said. "But your brother and uncle say that firebending's really all about life and everyone's been doing it wrong at least since the war started. I don't know."

"My brother and uncle are overemotional sentimentalists," Azula said, but her heart wasn't in it and she knew it. The princess had already begun mentally checking over her body, and however it had happened, the truth was undeniable- she was still in pain, but it was a dull ache rather than the stabbing agony of the injuries she'd suffered during the last, terrible struggle. Somehow, she _had_ been healed, or else she'd been out for a lot longer than she'd thought.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked Ty Lee, following that line of thought.

"A couple of days," the acrobat said. "We've been heading west from Jian Chin's fortress- Captain Shin was carrying you. We did try to wake you up, but we couldn't- it looked like you needed to sleep it off."

"Where are my mother and Shin now?" Azula asked quietly.

Ty Lee shrugged again. "I don't know. They went off to get some food from a village near here- Jian Chin's men let us go, but they didn't give us any supplies or anything either. I guess they still weren't very nice even without the Head Jerk." An unusually troubled look crossed her face. "What happened down there, anyway? You were really beat up when you came up out of the ground- I didn't think there was anything that could do that to you, except maybe the Avatar if you hadn't shot him in the back."

"I didn't think so either," Azula whispered. Memory flashed through her mind- Wei Ming's hate-maddened face inches from her own, pain lancing through her body as the shadow vented a lifetime of bitterness and anger on her. In the end, only a desperate trick had saved the princess's life. Then there was the conversation with the broken remnants of the real Wei Ming- or whatever her name really was- after the spirit that had used her fled. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's okay," Ty Lee said, seemingly willing to let it lie. She watched as Azula pulled herself all the way to her feet, and then flipped over and began to practice cartwheels and handstands. It wasn't that she'd lost interest, the princess knew. The simple fact was that Ty Lee needed to be in motion the same way most people needed air and sunlight.

"Is there any water nearby?" Azula asked, stretching. "I feel filthy."

"Sure." Ty Lee landed back on her feet and pointed off between the trees. "It's that way, not too far."

Azula nodded and walked off in the indicated direction. After picking her way through the trees for several minutes, she came to a small, fast moving stream. Kneeling at its side, she splashed water on her face and then paused, noticing her reflection for the first time.

Gone was Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, elegant and deadly. The person who stared back at her from the stream was dirty, her clothing ragged, her hair uncombed and unbound. There was a look in her eyes she had never seen before- the controlled intensity was still unmistakably there, but behind it was something else, something tired.

All of that paled compared to the jagged scar that ran up the right side of her face, narrowly avoiding her eye. Azula raised a hand and ran it along the scar's length, to make certain that it was really there and not somehow a trick of the light. That was where she had been cut by Wei Ming's knife- apparently due either to the severity of the injury or some strange property of the weapon that had dealt it, it hadn't healed fully.

The shadow's dying words came back to her. _"For the rest of your life you'll look in the mirror and know that… you're not perfect, that… an Earth Kingdom peasant could do that to you. I guess that's a pretty good revenge, huh?"_

"Yes," Azula whispered to her dead enemy, "it was."

Shaking herself out of her dark reverie, she splashed more water on herself and did her best to straighten her clothing and hair. No matter what else had happened, she was still royalty, after all, and should at least attempt to maintain some semblance of dignity. That accomplished, she made her way back through the woods to the small clearing where she first woke up, and Ty Lee was now hanging upside down from a tree-limb.

"Hi, Azula!" the acrobat called. "Are you feeling better now?"

"As far as is possible," the princess replied. "Though it would seem that Zuzu isn't the only one in the family with a scar anymore. Was there any reason you failed to mention that when we were talking?"

"Well, I just thought it would be better if you found out yourself," Ty Lee said. "It's not all bad, though- I think it makes you look more dangerous, and it didn't take out anything vital, and if you needed to go to a party or something you could always cover it with makeup…"

"It's fine, Ty Lee," Azula said, sinking back down against the tree. "It's a reminder that even for all my skill and royal blood I'm not invincible- and that sooner or later, all actions have consequences."

A confused look crossed Ty Lee's face, and she seemed to be about to ask Azula what she meant, when something else caught her attention. Flipping so that she now rested atop the limb, she shielded her eyes from the sun and looked off in the opposite direction from the stream. "Azula!" she called down. "Your mom's coming back!"

Her mother, the Lady Ursa, who the princess had gone through a long and dangerous journey to rescue, but who she hadn't spoken to in years outside of her own mind. Her mother, who had somehow discovered a new form of firebending that had eluded generations of masters and prodigies of the royal line.

For one of only a few times in her life, Azula wasn't sure what to say.

############

The fortress of Jian Chin had been ancient, built by some warrior king in the dim reaches of the Earth Kingdom's past, long before the great city of Ba Sing Se had expanded its rule to encompass the entire continent. Since then it had fallen into ruin, until it had been claimed as headquarters by the line of warlords that had ultimately produced the man who arrogantly took the name of one of history's greatest conquerors.

Now it was ruined again, much of the outer wall and part of the courtyard and inner building destroyed by the duel between Jian Chin and Princess Azula. Rather, Xang thought with a disgusted sneer, it had been the warlord who did all the fighting, while the battered but still cunning girl had goaded him to his destruction. All she needed to do was strike a single, final blow to send everything tumbling down.

Xang had been Jian Chin's second-in-command, though there was no love lost between him and his lord. The other man had ruled because he was the strongest and no one had ever succeeded in killing him (not that anyone truly important in the world had ever cared enough to try)- that was the way things worked in this spirits-forsaken corner of the Earth Kingdom. He'd thought his master a brute and a fool, but had been wise enough not to say it aloud. People who insulted Jian Chin had a distressing tendency to end up crushed.

The firebender princess had fixed that, which was the main reason Xang had decided to let her and her companions live, in addition to it being an easy way to get them out of his hair without running the risk of a potentially disastrous battle. Now he had his men working on removing all of Jian Chin's fortune (such as it was) and armory from the fortress, which had proved far too unstable for Xang's liking. There were other old castles nearby- less impressive, but also in far better shape- and he intended to claim one for his own.

As he stood in the center of the broken courtyard, directing his workmen, Xang heard someone running up behind him. "Warlord," the man panted, "come quickly. You must see!"

Xang turned towards him slowly. "What are you babbling about?" he asked. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"I don't think this can wait, sir," the soldier said. Scowling at the interruption, Xang followed the man over to the broken-off edge of the courtyard and looked down at the broken pile of rocks that marked Jian Chin's grave. The newly-made warlord's eyes widened in shock at what he saw- the stones, which had lain still since the collapse, were moving, as though something was trying to force its way up from below. Xang took a step back and drew his broadsword, preparing for some sort of strange attack.

The rock-pile exploded outwards and a tall, muscular figure became visible in their midst. Xang barely had time to mouth that it was impossible before the man- or creature- below raised his hands to the sky and was swiftly born up the side of the cliff on a platform of rock.

The platform came level with the courtyard and stopped, and the figure stepped out onto the broken stone. It was Jian Chin- unmistakably, impossibly alive- and yet he seemed to have changed. Though he seemed uninjured, his flesh had somehow taken on the color and texture of solid grey rock, and his eyes burned with unnatural green fire. Looking around at his stunned former subjects, the warlord smiled.

Xang backed up, lowering his blade. "How?" was all he managed to say.

"I was careless," Jian Chin began, his voice deeper and more resonant than before. "I allowed Azula of the Fire Nation to get the better of me, and for that I have paid. That defeat you all witnessed should have been my end, but as I lay dying a spirit came to me and spoke, saying that my destiny was unfulfilled. Long had I dreamed of conquering Ba Sing Se and from there the Earth Kingdom, but now I know that it was what I was _born_ to do! The spirit sent me back and imbued me with his power so that I may accomplish this great destiny." He stretched out a hand over the edge of the crumbled courtyard. "Behold!"

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then the earth began to rumble beneath Xang's feet, and as he watched in awe and terror the rubble began to rise from where it had fallen and reassemble itself into the broken-off portion of the courtyard, the wall, and the inner building. It hovered in midair for a moment and then affixed itself back to the main fortress. There was a final shuddering crack, and the pieces were rejoined seamlessly. It was earthbending like nothing Xang had ever seen- the fortress was whole once more.

"Behold my power," Jian Chin repeated.

Xang cast his sword at the warlord's feet and knelt. "Forgive me, lord," he said. "I thought you were dead- I did not know that you were alive, much less that you had become something far more than you were." Behind him, the soldiers who had followed him fell to their knees as well, begging forgiveness and mercy.

Jian Chin smiled. "Rise, my servants," he said. "You could not have known, so I do not fault you. Now I need every warrior here under my command, for I prepare to march on Ba Sing Se. We shall gather more along the way, for this world is filled with aimless warriors like you, in need of a cause. I can convince them that I am truly blessed, and they will follow me. When we reach the capital, we shall have a force that is truly mighty. Then Ba Sing Se will fall, and all shall know that I am the true Earth King! Are you with me?"

As one the soldiers drew their weapons and raised them to the sky, chanting their lord's name louder than thunder. Xang, shaken to the core of his being and not certain what to believe, only that Jian Chin had somehow become less of a man and more of a force of nature, shouted the loudest.


	3. Chapter 2: Uncomfortable Reunion

**Chapter 2: Uncomfortable Reunion **

It had been years since Azula had spoken to her mother in the flesh, rather than the version of her that existed only in the princess's mind and, she had come to realize, spoke truths that she was unable yet to consciously accept. Their last meeting couldn't be called friendly by any stretch of the imagination- it had involved little more than Azula telling Ursa about Fire Lord Azulon's plan to punish Ozai's lack of respect for his brother by forcing him to kill Zuko. That, of course, had been part of a plan she and her father had hastily worked out minutes earlier as he sensed a golden opportunity to rid the Fire Nation of its ancient ruler and install himself in his place. Ursa killed Azulon that night, and then she vanished from the palace and from her daughter's life for eight years.

During her early life, Azula's opinion of her mother had been straightforward and low- or so she had believed. Her father had told her early on that Ursa was soft and weak, not to be relied upon, and Azula had believed it. But killing the Fire Lord to protect her child had not been the action of a weak person, and there was some part of the princess that recognized that, though it was buried deep down. Then had come Azula's breakdown, and as she descended into madness the part of her that loved her mother had come to the fore in the form of visions and hallucinations.

While searching for Ursa on the advice of the fire spirit Agni, Azula had focused on the immediate goal of finding and saving her, not giving thought to what she would say when they met again. Now that meeting was moments away from happening, and the fire princess found herself unsure. It was not, she decided, a feeling she liked.

Ty Lee dropped from the tree and landed beside her. "Are you all right?" she asked concernedly.

"I'm fine," Azula said. Looking up, she could see two figures approaching through the forest, picking their way toward the clearing through the trees. The one in front was a serious looking middle-aged man in armor- Shin, former captain of the ship that had brought Azula to this forsaken part of the Earth Kingdom before it was destroyed. He seemed to be going out of his way to keep the way clear for the second person, a woman who managed to keep an air of regal beauty about herself despite the lines of grey creeping into her once solid black hair. Azula knew her face well- Lady Ursa, once wife of Fire Lord Ozai and mother of the princess and her brother Zuko.

Both stopped when they saw Azula awake and standing. They were both carrying large sacks that presumably contained food for the journey; Shin put his down and gave a half-bow. "Princess," he said. "It's good to see that you are awake." The words were cool, conveying respect but not personal liking, which Azula felt summed up Shin's opinion of her rather well.

Turning from the captain, she focused all of her attention on her mother. Looking at Ursa closely, Azula could see a great deal of resemblance to herself, and also many differences. The Fire Lord's widow had her daughter's elegant grace and cool beauty, in addition to the pale skin and golden eyes shared by many of the Fire Nation elite. Ursa's face was softer than Azula's, less intense, but there were hints there nonetheless of the fierce will suffered no defeat, waiting only for an imminent challenge to surface.

Ursa, too, studied her daughter. When they had last met and Azula had been conscious she had been a child and already nearly lost to Ozai's particular and vicious way of seeing the world. Ursa had loved both of her children, but with Azula it had been more distant- though it shamed her to admit it, the young girl's behavior had often disturbed or frightened her. During her captivity with Jian Chin she hadn't been able to keep up with news except in broad strokes, but what she had heard of Azula made it seem like she had gotten worse, not better, in the intervening years. And yet it had been her daughter who ultimately came to rescue her from the warlord's clutches, and the young woman who stood before her now didn't seem the mad but brilliant monster who had led the Fire Nation to victory over Ba Sing Se. Ursa could sense a sort of weary defiance about her manner and a ruthless edge that waited just below the surface, but her daughter seemed calm and in control of herself.

"Mother," Azula said, finally breaking the silence.

"Azula," Ursa replied. "It's been a long time."

"Eight years, give or take a few months. A lot's happened since then, and I don't think either of us is quite who we were then." Azula's gaze sharpened. "I was hurt very badly in the fortress, but not anymore. Ty Lee says you healed me. How?"

"I don't know," Ursa admitted. "Seeing you hurt was enough to trigger something in my firebending, but I can't explain beyond that. I'm not even certain I could do it again."

The idea that simply seeing her on the brink of death was enough to trigger a strange new manifestation of her mother's bending struck Azula powerfully. "So you really do care," she said softly. "I'd wondered, sometimes."

"How could you do that?" Ursa asked. "I'm your mother, Azula. Of course I cared."

Azula snorted. "Well, when I was growing up you seemed to like Zuko a lot more. Father said it was because you were both weak, but I'm not certain of that anymore. I'm not sure I know what to believe."

Now it was Ursa's turn to sharpen her gaze. "I gave your brother more attention because it was clear to me that he needed it- certainly Ozai cared little enough for him. And because I care about you does not mean that I approved of all of your actions. I love you, Azula, but I couldn't simply stand by and watch you hurt animals or other children."

Azula snarled and hung her head. "I'm not that person anymore!" she spat. "She died on the day of the Comet."

"Did she?" Ursa asked. "I still see pride and anger at least in you, Azula. I do want to help you, because you are my daughter and because you helped me, but you have done things I can never approve of. I want to make sure they do not happen again."

A brooding silence fell, neither woman speaking. Captain Shin stood impassively beside Ursa, while Ty Lee looked from one person to another and then shrugged helplessly. Finally the captain cleared his throat. "Princess," he said, "since you're awake now and we have supplies, I would recommend that we continue moving. Jian Chin may be gone, but this is still an unfriendly land, and I don't believe any of us wants to say here longer than we have to. We should continue to the coast and rendezvous with my men, and then turn west, for the Fire Nation."

"Yes," Azula said. "That would be wise. If you approve, Mother?"

"I agree," Ursa said, picking up her sack of supplies. "We should keep moving." She turned and began to walk with purpose in the direction she had first come from, which was presumably where the road lay. Captain Shin took up his position at her side.

Azula and Ty Lee followed at a short distance. "I'm sorry, Azula," the acrobat whispered. "I wish your reunion with your mom could have gone better."

"It was better than I had right to expect," Azula said. One hand went up to trace her scar. "I did lots of things that made people hate me- even my own mother isn't sure she can trust me. But I've learned from my mistakes and I won't repeat them." She lowered her hand and clenched it into a fist. "I won't."

Azula didn't know if that last statement was supposed to convince Ty Lee or herself.

############

_He stood atop a mountain that rose above an endless sea of clouds. The sky above was a strange color somewhere between pink and red and the clouds were yellow, but otherwise there were no memorable features, but the boy didn't worry. He knew this place- he'd been here in dreams before. _

_He sat down calmly to wait, and soon a serpentine creature was winging towards him across the sky, the small figure of a man on its back. Within moments of appearing the great dragon had drawn even with the mountaintop and the boy could make out the familiar aged features of its rider. _

_"Hello, Aang," the dragon rider said. "Come with me. There are things we must discuss." _

_The current Avatar shrugged confusedly as he stood and faced his predecessor. "What do you need to talk about, Roku? The war's been over for a year and a half now. What else is important enough that you'd need to talk to me about it?" _

_Roku lowered his eyes sadly. "Come ride with me and I will explain." He patted the dragon's back next to him, and Aang hopped lightly into position. The old man bent and whispered into his serpentine companion's ear, and they shot off into the sky. _

_Aang sat still for several minutes, enjoying the wind blowing back from the dragon's wings in a way that was very different from how his sky bison Appa flew. Finally he turned back to Roku. "All right," he said, "What do you want to talk about?" _

_"A great danger approaches, Aang," Roku said. "The spirits and I tried to prevent it, but we have failed. Now you must take up the burden, or both worlds will be in terrible peril." _

_"It can't be worse than the Fire Lord, can it?" Aang asked. "I mean, he was planning to destroy everything that wasn't his, pretty much. Can anything really be more dangerous than that?" _

_"It is the same danger," Roku said. "A great warlord marches from the east with an army at his back, and with him comes a great and ancient evil. You remember the spirit Hei Bei?" _

_Aang frowned. "Yeah, but what does he have to do with this? I showed him that his forest was going to grow back, and after that he wasn't dangerous anymore." _

_"Your experience with Hei Bei taught you that the spirit world and the mortal world reflect one another," Roku explained. "When Fire Lord Sozin began the war and wiped out your people, that was a great and terrible change in the world, and so the spirit world changed as well. A new spirit was born from the ashes, drawing strength from conflict and death. His name is Zhan Zheng." _

_"Zhan Zheng?" Aang asked. "I've never heard of him." _

_"Not many have. For years he was content to watch and wait as the world descended into war, but no longer. He feels threatened by the onset of peace and has taken matters into his own hands. He intends to restart the War and ensure that this time, it lasts forever. To do this he uses a pawn- an earthbending warlord named Jian Chin."_

_An uncharacteristically serious look crossed Aang's face. "So you're saying I have to stop this Jian Chin guy before he takes over the Earth Kingdom? I don't think that will be _too _hard, but thanks for the warning." _

_The dragon swooped back towards the mountaintop, but before Aang could dismount, Roku held up his hand. "Remember, Aang, that the real threat is not the warlord but the spirit who comes with him. I do not know the extent of his powers, so I can't tell you how he will fight you or if he can win, but I know that he will fight. Also remember the lessons of the past Avatars and of your own experiences. Often, by looking into the past we can find the wisdom to face the future." _

"_I will." Aang leaped from the dragon's back and onto the rocky peak. "Good-bye, Roku. I promise I won't let you or the world down." _

"_I know," Roku said. "Good-bye, Aang." He reached down and patted his mount's head, and the dragon leaned forward and touched one of the tendrils in his 'beard' to Aang's forehead. There was a great flash of light, and the Avatar awoke with a start. _

AN: This was a very difficult chapter to write- I hope I was able to convey the awkwardness and conflicted feelings on both sides of the Ursa/Azula reunion. Sorry I took so long between updates as a result, but hopefully that won't be the norm.


	4. Chapter 3: Soldiers and Mercenaries

**Chapter 3: Soldiers and Mercenaries **

As Jian Chin's army began its march, Xang slid back into his old role as the warlord's second-in-command with surprising ease. It seemed as though he had simply taken orders from the other man for so long that it was the natural thing to do, even when he had tasted power of his own for a short time. Upon closer reflection, though, he realized that it was more than that- he had seen Jian Chin return from the dead with powers beyond his imagining, and their relationship had forever shifted from one of lord and soldier to god and slave.

Before, Xang had entertained thoughts of betraying the warlord and seizing power on more than one occasion. Now, after what he had seen back at the fortress, he knew that this would be the height of folly.

Immediately after Jian Chin's miraculous return, his soldiers had marched down from the fortress and conscripted most of the population of the town below. They weren't much- most were untrained in combat, and most of those who were trained were either old or crippled- but they'd still make an effective meat shield. From there , the warlord had ordered them to turn north and march for the coast.

"The coast, my lord?" Xang asked incredulously. "Our target is Ba Sing Se, which is in the west. The coast is the _opposite_ direction we need to go."

Jian Chin smiled, his green eyes flickering. "We need more warriors before we can attack the Capital. There are ports along the coast where we can recruit their populations into my service."

"Forgive me," Xang said, "but they will not be like your people from near the fortress. They will not wish to join us."

"When they see what I am capable of, they will," Jian Chin said, his voice low and dangerous. Something in his tone told Xang that it would be unwise to press the issue.

The warlord's officers pressed the army on through the night, and they arrived at the first port the next day. Xang thought it a sad, ramshackle excuse for a town, with no government or defenses to speak of and only a handful of ships in the harbor. Had he been in command, he would have completely passed the place over- but Jian Chin had other plans.

He marched to the edge of town and, planting his feet firmly there, raised a pillar of earth beneath him so that he towered over the tallest buildings. People rushed from the houses, shops, and taverns, looking towards the west to see what the noise was and were stunned to behold Jian Chin standing atop a spire of stone that had not been there moments before. From their distance none of them could recognize him, but they did see his stony flesh and the flickering light from his glowing eyes. When he was certain he had their attention, the warlord spoke in a voice that seemed to rise from the very ground.

"Hear me, people of this wretched place. I am Jian Chin, once one of many warlords in our forsaken lands. Some of you may have heard of me, but know that I am no longer what I was. I have died and been reborn, charged by the spirits with a great mission. Too long have our people suffered, cut off from the Earth Kingdom capital and left defenseless against the Fire Nation. Now is the time for us to rise up and conquer." He pointed off toward the west. "We will march towards Ba Sing Se and lay it low, and the Fire Nation shall follow. The world will belong to me, and I shall ensure that all who stand loyally at my side are rewarded handsomely." The warlord's gaze narrowed. "But for those who stand in my way, all that waits is death."

The townsfolk and the soldiers were silent, and Xang watched intently, waiting to see what they would do. Finally one man stepped forward, old but still fit, a patch over one eye and a sword hung from his back. "I don't believe you," he called up to Jian Chin. "I have heard of you, and you're nothing more than a brute and a bully. I won't serve you, and anyone with half a brain can tell you're lying. Conquer Ba Sing Se with that rabble?" The man spat. "You're a fool."

Xang's breath caught, and he heard the men behind him rustling angrily. "Quiet," he snapped at them. "Let the warlord sort them out." Jian Chin had not changed so much, the warrior was certain, that he wouldn't want to dispose of this insolent fool himself.

But Jian Chin surprised him. Instead of calling a boulder from the earth and using it to crush the old man into jelly, he lowered his hands and brought the stone pillar crashing back to earth. Stepping forward, the warlord knelt and planted his hands firmly on the ground, head bowed in concentration. Xang could hear the murmurs intensifying behind him, but he held himself calm and steady, no matter what was about to happen.

Suddenly the earth heaved beneath their feet, and the whole port shook. Xang and his soldiers stumbled backwards, as did the old man and the gathered townsfolk. Jian Chin, though, remained perfectly still, sweat pooling on his brow, and then he gave a great shout and pulled himself to his feet. The earth heaved again, far stronger than before, and everyone apart from the warlord was sent stumbling to their knees. Xang quickly pulled himself to his feet again and looked out towards the town- and then stopped, staring, not believing his eyes.

Jian Chin had pulled the floor of the harbor up above the water level, so that once was once a port town was now quite effectively landlocked. Ships lay on their sides, stunned crewmen staring over their railings, while fish and various other forms of sealife flopped around aimlessly on the newly dry ground.

"Now you have seen my power," Jian Chin said calmly. "Do you believe now that the spirits are with me?"

The old man fell to his knees before the warlord. "I do," he gasped. "Forgive me. I… I didn't know."

"Now you do," Jian Chin rumbled. "Will you serve me?"

The man stepped forward and drew his sword, laying it at the warlord's feet. "My name is Yi Tzin," he said, "and I will follow you." Behind him, Xang could see dozens more streaming from the town to do the same, convinced by a display of earthbending greater than anything they had imagined. As they came to him, Jian Chin smiled.

"It is still not enough," one soldier near Xang muttered. "Even with them, we still do not have enough to take the capital."

The warlord's second shook his head. "We don't need numbers," he said. "We have _him_."

#############

That night, Jian Chin finally allowed his army to rest. They camped near the road halfway between the now-landlocked port and the next town to the north, officers in tents, the rank-and-file forced to make do with what they could. In spite of that, none dared to desert after having seen what the warlord was capable of firsthand. They found themselves facing the same dilemma as Xang- how could one betray a god?

Jian Chin's tent was pitched in the center of camp and was occupied by the warlord alone. Xang's much smaller tent was at its side, and within it the warrior was preparing himself a cup of tea before he slept when he heard someone enter behind him.

"I gave orders that I was not to be disturbed without good cause," he said without turning around.

"I know, sir," the soldier said, "but we have a… situation, and thought it would be better to take it to you before the warlord."

Xang had to grudgingly admit there was sense to that- rousing Jian Chin from his slumber was not something that was conducive to one's health. Grabbing his sword, he marched out of the tent and into the camp. Several more soldiers stood in the open space in front of his and Jian Chin's tents, and two of them held a man between their arms. Xang walked forward to get a better look at him. He was tall and slender, with medium-length dark hair and skin that almost matched it- certainly different from anything Xang had seen in the Earth Kingdom, though he was certain he'd heard of skin that color somewhere before. The man was dressed in a plain blue tunic, and when he raised his head the second-in-command could see that his eyes were the same color. A strange smile played around his lips.

"So, would you be the great Jian Chin, or are they wasting my time with another flunky?" he asked. Despite his words, there was no real anger in the prisoner's voice- just a sort of cruel amusement that was, if anything, more disquieting.

Xang ignored him. "Where did you catch him, and why?" he asked one of the soldiers who was holding the captive's arm.

"We found him on the edge of camp, demanding to see the warlord," the soldier replied. "I told him no, that if he wanted to sign up he could come back in the morning like everyone else. Then he tried to fight his way past us, but we caught him and brought him here."

Xang regarded the prisoner coolly. "Who are you and what is your business with Jian Chin?"

The man laughed. "So you aren't the warlord after all. So sorry, friend, but I don't deal with lackeys."

"You will if you want to see him. My name is Xang, and I am Jian Chin's second. As of right now, I'm also the man who can decide if you live or die. So it's in your best interest to answer my questions. Now, who are you?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" the prisoner sighed. "My name is Ilook, and I am a mercenary, currently unemployed. I heard about Jian Chin and I thought I'd offer my services."

Xang snorted. "Jian Chin doesn't concern himself with individual soldiers. If you want to join us, wait for the morning and one of our ministers will see that you get a weapon."

Ilook smiled then, a strange twisted smile that sent shivers down Xang's spine. "He will concern himself with me," he hissed, and twisted his hands in the soldiers' grasps. There was a rushing sound, and then jets of water shot from nearby cooking pots, freezing as they flew into icy daggers. They struck Ilook's captors in the arms and they sprang away from him, cursing and trying to staunch the blood flow. The remaining water settled around his hands, forming into icy claws.

"Waterbender," Xang muttered, pulling back and drawing his sword.

"That's right," Ilook said, examining his new claws with a faintly bored expression. "I'm here to offer my services, but only to the warlord directly. I'm not some common thug like you and your men."

"You are not," a deep voice said, and Xang turned to see Jian Chin exiting his tent. The warlord walked up to the mercenary waterbender and stared at him intently. "You offer me your services, Ilook? I accept. A master waterbender isn't easy to come by so far from the poles."

"So you're Jian Chin," Ilook murmured. "A step up from my last employer, I must admit- he was nothing but a pirate. You have power. I can see it in you." He gave his twisted smile again. "It will be a great pleasure to help bring Ba Sing Se to its knees. I do so love a challenge."

He gave a deep and respectful bow towards his new lord. Satisfied, Jian Chin returned to his tent and closed the flap behind him. Xang turned to Ilook. "If you are to report directly to the warlord, you merit an officer's privileges," he said rather stiffly. "Shall I have someone fetch a tent for you?"

Ilook nodded. "Yes. That would be very… appreciated." As he spoke, he looked directly at Xang, and Jian Chin's second shivered. There was nothing of humanity in those cold blue eyes, just the cruel amusement he'd noticed earlier, and something else lurking below the surface that Xang couldn't identify.

Jian Chin now had a master waterbender to his name, but either he hadn't noticed or didn't care that the man was also completely insane.

#############

From the trees near the warlord's camp, two men watched as Ilook was accepted as Jian Chin's personal waterbender. They both remembered him well- the lunatic had been with the group of pirates who had attacked Captain Shin's vessel, before being defeated in single combat by Princess Azula. He had escaped, but now had turned up again in an unexpected and inconvenient place indeed.

The two men were the last of Captain Shin's soldiers, having been sent by him to escort a group of Dai Li prisoners back to their ship. That task accomplished, they had intended to rendezvous with the captain and the princess, but in the process of doing so they had encountered this army. Jian Chin they remembered as the name of the warlord who had been discovered to be holding the Lady Ursa captive. Now apparently he was on the march.

The two soldiers slipped away into the night, determined now more than ever to find their leaders and warn them of the danger that was now on the move.


	5. Chapter 4: Ripples

**Chapter 4: Ripples **

Azula followed several paces behind her mother and Captain Shin, as she desired to speak with neither at the moment, and also had no wish to admit that she didn't know where they were going. The logical part of her mind reminded her that, as she'd been unconscious for two days, there was no way she could be expected to know that, but her pride wouldn't let her admit it out loud. Apparently, having recently taken something of a beating recently, it felt a need to reassert itself in whatever small ways it could.

Ty Lee walked at Azula's side, looking cheery as ever, as though none of the events of the past weeks had the power to faze her. The princes knew that some of her behavior was an act- the acrobat's way of coping with the world, similar in some respects to Mai's emotional withdrawal and Azula's own iron discipline- but she'd never really been able to figure out where the act ended and reality began, or if the distinction even mattered any more. In any event, Azula was hardly in the mood for her friend's bubbly personality at the moment, but she knew that trying to make Ty Lee go away when she didn't want to would be a nigh impossible task.

Fortunately, the acrobat seemed to recognize that she didn't want to talk and said nothing as the Fire Nation party made its way back towards the main path. When they finally reached it (it would hardly have passed for an animal trail in any civilized part of the world, at least in Azula's estimation, but here it was the closest thing to a major road), Ty Lee hurried over to Ursa and whispered something into her ear. Objects too small for Azula to identify changed hands, and when the acrobat came back she pressed them into the princess's hands- a loaf of bread and an apple.

"You really should eat those, you know," Ty Lee said. "You haven't had anything for almost three days now, and that's got to make you hungry."

Azula hadn't paid it much attention, but there was a definite emptiness in her stomach. It wasn't until she took a small bite of the bread that she realized just how hungry she was, and began to tear into it with ferocious abandon. In moments, the loaf was gone. "I didn't realize how much I needed that," Azula admitted in a quiet voice. "Thank you."

Ty Lee shot the princess a funny look. "Did you just thank me?" she asked in a tone of disbelief. "I mean, I'm not complaining, but that's not really the kind of thing you normally say." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Are you plotting something? If you are plotting something, why haven't you told me about it?"

"No, I'm not plotting anything," Azula sighed. "I've just been thinking about my life lately, and the way I used to do things, and I've decided that's not what I want to be any more."

"Huh." Ty Lee seemed to give this some consideration. "Then what are you going to be, then? I've been lots of things- a sister, a noblewoman, a circus performer, your helper when you chased Zuko and the Avatar, and a Kyoshi Warrior. But none of those really sound like _you_."

"I don't know," Azula admitted. "I just know that there's no place in this world any longer for the person I used to be."

"That sounds kinda depressing," Ty Lee said. "I'd ask if you'd been talking to Mai lately, but since we're in the middle of nowhere I don't think that's it." She looked over at Ursa and Shin, who were both apparently engrossed in a map. "Is it your mom? You weren't so down before you talked to her, but that doesn't make any sense either. Shouldn't seeing her have cheered you up?"

Azula sighed. "I've been looking for my mother for weeks, and when I finally found her I don't know what to say. For so long I thought I hated her for loving Zuko more than me, but that's not right. It's been years since I last saw her, now when I look at her I can't help but imagining her and Zuzu. I think she looks at me and sees my father."

Ty Lee shrugged. "I don't know if I can help you there," she said. "All I can say is- don't worry. You can't let things like this get to you. If you don't try and mess with it, everything will work out for the best in the end!" The acrobat beamed as she finished speaking, but Azula shook her head.

"You're an optimist, Ty Lee. I'm a realist- I don't believe things work out well for you unless you make them."

"Ha!" the acrobat said. "That's it! You think things won't work out for you unless you make them, only you don't know how to make this one work out. So you're angry at yourself for feeling helpless."

"You're not helping," Azula muttered. She pulled out her apple and studied it for a moment, then took a bite out of it. She ate in silence for several moments, then looked up to see why Ty Lee was being so quiet. The acrobat was standing perfectly still, staring off to the east with a strangely dark look in her eyes.

"What is it?" the princess asked.

"I don't know," Ty Lee said. "Something's wrong, though. I'm feeling weird- all cold, and the air is kinda ripple-y. Or maybe wrinkly; I'm not sure. But it's coming from that way." She pointed off in the direction she'd been staring at.

"It's probably nothing," Azula said. She knew that Ty Lee could sometimes see things other people couldn't, but she'd never put much stock in that herself. "We should get moving again."

"Weird. It just… stopped." The acrobat kept looking east, then shrugged and turned back to her friend. "You're probably right. I bet it was nothing." She started to walk back over to Ursa and Shin, Azula by her side.

"Yes," the princess repeated under her breath. "Nothing."

############

After giving Ty Lee the bread and apple, Ursa walked over to Captain Shin, who had pulled a map of the Earth Kingdom out of his pack and was studying it intently. "Can I have a moment?" she asked quietly over his shoulder.

"I'm trying to figure out the fastest way back to civilization overland," Shin said. "If you wish to speak with me, however, milady, I would of course be happy to oblige."

Ursa walked around him and leaned over the map, pretending to be reading it herself. "I think it would be best if we did this now, while certain other parties are… distracted." She nodded in the direction of her daughter and Ty Lee.

"Yes," Shin said. "I understand, milady. What do you wish to discuss?"

"I want to talk about my daughter," Ursa said. "It's been years since I've seen her in person, and the memories… don't paint a particularly flattering picture. What little news I heard while locked up in Jian Chin's castle was worse. I want to talk with someone who knows Azula personally and I can trust to speak the truth. Ty Lee is a delightful girl, but I don't think she's completely objective where my daughter is concerned."

Shin closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Milady, in my opinion your daughter is arrogant, ruthless, and shockingly self-centered. From my association with her, I can say that I can well believe many of the stories of her more… questionable actions. At the same time, I find her to be highly intelligent, quite brave, and determined enough to see a very difficult mission through to its end. In short, while I would not agree with those who have named her a monster, there is a definite darkness in her, and I would fear for anyone who was caught on the receiving end of it. Forgive me, but you asked me to speak plainly, and I have."

"I suppose that is better than I had right to expect," Ursa said. "It was simpler when I knew she was fighting Jian Chin- she was just my daughter, and I wanted to protect her. Now that she's awake, it's more complicated. I don't know what to make of her."

"I will say this, milady," Shin said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "While we were searching for you, she devoted herself completely to the task. You can make of that what you will, but I think that at least some part of her does care about you and wants to love you, even if it doesn't know how. Beyond that, I can't say anything more."

Ursa nodded. "Thank you, Captain. I appreciate your honesty. If you have any advice, I would be glad to hear it."

Shin shook his head. "I don't have any children myself," he said, "and as such I can't help you there. This is something you and the princess will have to do yourselves." Suddenly he paused, and seemed to listen.

"What's wrong?" Ursa asked.

"I felt the ground shake," Shin said. "Fighting earthbenders for years gets you used to listening for that. Either there's just been an earthquake, or someone's just performed incredibly powerful bending- off towards the east, I think." He rolled his map up and stuck it back in his pouch. "Either way, for our own safety I think we should get moving again."

#############

Katara came awake slowly. Yawning deeply, she rubbed sleep from her eyes and lifted herself into a seated position within her bedding. Looking around, she saw that the sun had just risen over the horizon, casting yellow-orange light over the forest she and Aang had stopped in the night before. They were on their way to one of the Fire Nation colonies where there had been some serious trouble between the colonists and Earth Kingdom natives recently. Zuko had decreed that the colonies be allowed to vote on which nation they belonged to, but in some the vote had been very evenly split and violence erupted. As neither Fire Nation nor Earth Kingdom diplomats were seen as being impartial, the people had called on the Avatar to sort matters out.

At that thought, Katara glanced over at Aang's bedding, and her eyes widened in shock when she saw that he was gone. Looking quickly around, she saw that his glider-staff was still there, as was Appa, fast asleep and resembling nothing so much as a small, fluffy-white hill. Knowing that meant he couldn't have gone far, Katara stood up and followed his trail out of camp.

She found him sitting on top of a small nearby hill, legs crossed and eyes closed. Momo was perched on his head and had apparently fallen back asleep, if the soft snoring noises he was making were any indication. Smiling, Katara sat down next to Aang and waited.

"Hey, Katara," he said without opening his eyes. "Sleep well?"

She shrugged, then smiled sheepishly as she realized he couldn't see it. "All right," she said. "Are you okay? You gave me a bit of a scare when I woke up and saw you were gone."

Now Aang did open his eyes and turn to look at her, waking Momo up and causing the lemur to leap down into his lap, chirping irritably. "I saw Roku last night," he said. "The first time I've seen him since the War ended."

"Avatar Roku?" Katara asked. "From the look on your face, he wasn't just there to chat."

"He wasn't," Aang said. "He told me that there's some sort of evil coming out of the east- a warlord and a spirit. He says I need to stop them, or else the war could start again, and this time it wouldn't ever end."

"Well, it can't be worse than Fire Lord Ozai, can it?" Katara asked. "I mean, he had a whole nation behind him and we still beat him- and even if this guy can match that, you're still the Avatar, and you know you can win now."

"If it was just the warlord, I wouldn't be worried," Aang said. "But I don't know how to fight a spirit. I can talk with them, but from what Roku said, I don't think this one's going to be turning over a new leaf if I give him an acorn."

Katara put a hand on Aang's shoulder. "Don't worry, Aang," she said. "You can do this, and I'm not going to let you go off and fight this alone. I wasn't there when you fought the Fire Lord, but if I have a choice, I won't let you go into danger by yourself."

Aang smiled. "Thanks, Katara." He leaped lightly to his feet, and Katara stood as well. "Let's get going, then. The colonies can wait a few days- this is more important."

And so, after quickly eating a light breakfast, Aang and Katara climbed into Appa's saddle and lifted off into the sky, heading towards the east and the warlord and spirit who waited there.


	6. Chapter 5: The Prize

**Chapter 5: The Prize**

Jian Chin's scout reached up and brushed a hand along the edge of the burned tree, tracing the unnaturally straight line of the damage. The tree stood along the edge of a narrow path that wound through the thick forests of this wild land, a path that was predominantly used by peasants who dared to travel from village to village, bandits, and soldiers like the scout himself. Clearly, though, no one had used the path in some time, as some sort of large and spiky plant had grown up in the middle of it.

Emphasis on _had_- very recently, it seemed, the plant and everything in a tight area around it had been burned to the ground. The scout knew that a fire that concentrated was very unlikely to have occurred in nature or even to have been created by ordinary humans. It had all the hallmarks of a firebender's work, which was borne out by the two trails of footprints made by someone who had walked this trail very recently, someone who cared more about speed than stealth.

"Do you think it's her?" the scout's partner asked. He stood slowly and turned to face the man, shaking his head.

"It's possible, but not likely," he said. "These footprints look like they were made by two men wearing heavy boots- soldier's boots. The Fire Nation princess left our fortress in the company of three others, only one of whom was a soldier or a man. No, I think whoever was spying on us was someone different."

Jian Chin had told Xang on the first morning out from the port town that he'd been warned in a dream that someone was following them and taking note of their movements. The warlord's second had been skeptical but loyal, putting two of his scouts on the task of finding the spies and seeing if they could possibly be recruited- or if they needed to be silenced permanently. For two days now they'd been following the trail, but it seemed the spies had learned what they needed and were now heading west at top speed. This was the first clue as to their identity.

"So that means there's more than one group of firebenders out there?" the second scout asked. "Figures. The Fire Nation leaves us alone while we're sitting back in the fortress, and the moment we're out in the forest, they're suddenly swarming all over the place!"

The first scout considered for a moment. "This is an important find. Return to the main force and tell Xang what we've found. Then come back with reinforcements. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the second scout said, saluting. Then he turned and hurried back along the trail, towards Jian Chin's conquering army.

He found them that evening, setting up camp outside another port farther to the north. Apparently the warlord's reputation had preceded him- this town seemed to have capitulated without a fight. At least it's hard was still intact and there were no strange-looking rock formations that shouldn't be there, which seemed to indicate that Jian Chin had no need to unleash his strange powers again.

The scout hurried up to the edge of camp and stopped dead when he heard the perimeter guard's shout. Stepping forward slowly so that they could clearly see them, he spoke. "I have news for Xang. Let me pass."

One of the guards looked questioningly at the other, and then nodded. "It's alright," he said. "I recognize him. We can let him through." The scout saluted, and the other two soldiers returned the gesture. Then he stepped into the camp.

He was about halfway towards Xang's tent when he heard a voice call out behind him. "Excuse me," it said, "but aren't you one of the two men the warlord sent out after whoever was tailing us? I thought I recognized you." The scout turned around, and found himself facing a tall, dark-skinned man leaning against a tent pole and holding a half-eaten apple in one hand. The scout recognized him, and after a few moments he was able to put a name to him- Ilook, Jian Chin's new mercenary waterbender.

"You've got that right," he said. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have to make my report to Xang." He turned to leave, but something long and wet wrapped around his waist from behind and pulled him towards the waterbender until he was uncomfortably close to the other man's face. Ilook smiled at him, but somehow the expression failed to be reassuring. In truth, it reminded the scout of an expression he had once seen on the face of a savage apetiger as it closed in on its meal.

Despite that, Ilook's words were pleasant, even conversational. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know what you found out there- satisfy my curiosity and all."

"What makes you think I found anything?"

Ilook chuckled. "Two scouts go out, the younger returns. You don't have a captive, and you don't look upset, so I'll conclude that your partner sent you back with some report. I want to hear it. Now." His voice took on a hard edge.

"I'm supposed to make my report to Xang- he was the one who sent us out. If he thinks you should know, he'll tell you."

Ilook backed into the empty tent, and the rope of water dragged the scout in with him. "Let me tell you a story," he said in a quiet, deadly voice. "My last job involved working as a ship's waterbender for a crew of- well, they called themselves independent traders, but I prefer the colloquial term- pirates. We made the mistake of setting upon a stripped down Fire Navy vessel, only to discover the crew was far more deadly than we had anticipated. You can imagine who was on board." The scout nodded mutely.

"In any event, we received a severe thrashing, and worst of all, Princess Azula defeated me in single combat. Now, personally I find the idea of losing to a teenage girl rather repellant, wouldn't you agree? Before I joined this little army I heard rumors that she was in these lands, and after I signed on I confirmed them. The princess defeated your master Jian Chin as well, didn't she, left his castle in ruins- but was half dead herself.

"Now then, when I fought her she had a fair-sized crew with her, but the stories say there were only two others who helped her assault the fortress. I knew the others must be out there somewhere, and when Jian Chin said there were spies, I guessed easily who they were. Now then, you come back with information on them. If I'm right, I can track them back to the princess and kill her while she is still weak- my pride demands retribution, not a fair fight." Ilook's eyes narrowed until they resembled cold, hard chips of ice. "Now then, talk."

The scout swallowed nervously. "We found burning along the trail, very tightly controlled. We thought that it had to be firebenders. My partner sent me back to report and get reinforcements."

Ilook smiled at him and clapped his hands; the water was drawn back into the pouches that hung at his sides. "Good man," he said. Stepping forward, he put his arm casually across the scout's shoulders, and he had to keep himself from shuddering at the touch. "Now then, this is what I want you to do. Don't tell that fool Xang anything, but get some of your friends together and meet me on the western edge of camp in an hour. We're following that trail, and when we get to the end, we'll kill some firebenders."

"But what about-"

"Your orders?" Ilook chuckled. "Look at it this way- Xang doesn't know about the princess. Go to him, and all you'll get credit for is killing two spies. I can help you bag much larger game. Azula defeated and humiliated Jian Chin, destroyed half his fortress- can you imagine how you'll be rewarded for killing her?"

The scout had a sudden mental image of himself standing before a cheering crowd, receiving a medal from Jian Chin himself on the steps of the palace in Ba Sing Se. Admittedly he'd never actually seen Ba Sing Se, but it was the grandest image his mind could produce. "I'll do it," he said, nodding. Ilook beamed.

"Good, good," he said. The scout saluted him and turned to go, but before he left the tent the waterbender's voice came drifting towards him, calm and pleasant as ever. "And if you even think about telling Xang about our little talk, then we'll find out how long it takes an Earth Kingdom soldier to die."

#############

Azula and her companions made camp alongside the crumbling roadway, if one could dignify it by calling it a camp. The princess herself lit a fire on some sticks that Ty Lee had gathered- it burned blue for several seconds, then dimmed to a more normal red as she stopped concentrating on it. Ursa passed out more food from her bag, and when her eyes met her daughter's dozens of emotions seemed to flit across them in quick succession. Nonetheless, she moved on to Ty Lee without saying anything, and then retreated to the other side of the fire.

"You should try and talk to her now," Ty Lee whispered to Azula after a few minutes.

"I do not need your advice," the princess said, rather stiffly. Her friend looked unconvinced.

"I think it would really be good for both of you. Talking always works when I have problems. This one time, I was on Kyoshi Island, and Suki said-"

"I'm not you, Ty Lee, and I don't need to talk." Azula got to her feet and walked away from the fire.

"Where are you going?" the acrobat called after her.

"To stand guard. Someone should in this horrid place. I have no doubt that we could deal with whatever bandits or animals are roaming around out there, but it would be helpful to have a warning." That explanation seemed to settle Ty Lee, even if she wasn't happy about it. She turned back to the fire and focused on finishing her dinner.

Azula stared out into the darkness, trying her best to put annoying family members and friends who had no idea what they were talking about out of her mind. Concentrating her will, she began to run through the basic breathing exercises of firebending. The familiar routine always helped her relax- or at least, come as close as she ever did to relaxing.

She didn't know how long she'd been doing it when she heard a sound in the darkness. Freezing, Azula listened as it came again. Something was moving out there, and- yes- that was the sound of armor. So it was a person, then, not an animal. She called a handful of blue fire into her hand and held it up threatingly so that whoever was out there could see. "Show yourself!" she commanded in her most ringing, authoritative voice.

"Princess?" a voice asked. The trees parted, and from between them stepped two men in Fire Navy uniforms. Azula's eyes widened as she recognized them- Shin's crewmen. "We've been searching for you! We have news of the warlord Jian Chin."

"Jian Chin is dead," Azula said dismissively.

The first soldier shook his head. "No, Princess. He lives, and his earthbending power is immense- we saw him with our own eyes not two nights ago. He has left his fortress, and marches with an army towards Ba Sing Se."

"What is his purpose?" Azula asked, though in her heart, she already knew the answer.

"He intends to throw the great city down, and set himself up as Earth King."

Azula spun and rushed towards the camp, where her companions sat staring off in the direction of the noise. "What is it?" Captain Shin asked. "We heard voices."

"Yeah," Ty Lee said. "What's going on?"

"Your missing soldiers have returned, Shin," the princess said. "And they have news…"


	7. Chapter 6: Torment

**Chapter 6: Torment**

Jian Chin lived.

Azula was not foolish enough to believe that just because she saw someone suffer a fatal accident, they were finished- after all, she'd shot the Avatar himself in the back with lightning during her coup of Ba Sing Se, but the Fire Nation had never found his body, and as a result she'd been unsurprised when he turned up alive a few weeks later. Had it been any of her other recent enemies, the princess would have been utterly unsurprised- certainly General Azun or Long Feng were clever enough to cheat death, and Wei Ming had been more spirit than flesh. But Jian Chin was nothing but a thug with a great deal of personal power, and Azula had buried him beneath several tons of rock. No matter how often her agile mind turned things over again and again, there seemed no real way he could have survived.

That left two possible explanations. The first was that the soldiers were lying, but the princess couldn't see what they'd gain from such an easily exposed deception. Besides, they were Shin's men, and while Azula and the captain didn't particularly get along, she had to admit that he was an honorable man. He might disagree with her, but he was simply to straightforward to lie, and his soldiers had all been the same way. The other possibility was far and away the more disturbing- that someone or something had stepped in to save the warlord's life.

In the caverns below Jian Chin's fortress, Azula had battled with the mysterious girl who called herself Wei Ming, an avenging fiend determined to force the world to suffer for allowing the War to endure for so long. She'd fixated on Azula as the target of her insane hatred and hunted her across the continent, but in the end the princess had triumphed. As Wei Ming lay broken and dying, though, something strange had happened- her unusual and striking appearance had shifted to being more nondescript, and she seemed to lose her driving hatred, and much of her memory with it. Something else had been using her- possibly the same spirit that had spoken to General Azun from the fire and guided his rebellion.

Perhaps now it had found a new pawn.

Azula turned over and pulled her arms more tightly around herself. It had been a day since Shin's men had joined back up with them, and the party had spent that time quickening their pace west. The others hadn't seemed to give too much thought to Jian Chin's survival- after all, he was an earthbender, and moving rocks was what earthbenders _did_. But they hadn't spoken with the spirit of the flames or seen Wei Ming for what she really was. Only Azula had done that, and that was more than enough convince her that more was afoot than met the eye.

#############

Ty Lee paced nervously among the trees. Azula and Shin had suggested almost simultaneously after receiving the news of Jian Chin's survival that they should have someone staying awake at all times as a guard, and right now the lot had fallen to her. Yawning, the acrobat rubbed her eyes and looked longingly over at Ursa, Azula, and the three soldiers, all of whom were sound asleep. Well, everyone but the princess was sound asleep- Azula was tossing and turning, her lips moving as though she was muttering to herself. For a moment Ty Lee considered waking her in order to have someone to talk to, but she quickly decided that wouldn't be a smart move. If Azula really _was_ muttering, she was either dreaming or scheming, and the acrobat knew she wouldn't take kindly to either activity being interrupted. Besides, she hadn't been much fun for the last few days anyway.

Stifling another yawn, she grabbed a nearby tree branch and pulled herself up into the air, swinging back and forth a bit before dropping back to the ground. Stretching both arms out to her sides, Ty Lee prepared to perform as many cartwheels as the tight space between the trees would allow, when she heard a crunching sound from the forest. She turned quickly towards it, eyes straining to see through the shadows, when suddenly two white and gleaming objects shot through the air and struck her wrists, slamming them against a nearby tree and binding them tightly. Three more followed within moments, striking her ankles and mouth. They were cold and slightly wet- ice! That meant there had to be a waterbender somewhere nearby.

The trees shifted slightly, and four men crept out from among them, wearing the crude green uniforms of Jian Chin's private army. They paused before entering the circle of light cast by the nearby campfire, and a fifth man stepped out of the shadows. Ty Lee's eyes widened as she recognized the mercenary waterbender who had fought for Shang's pirates- there was no mistaking those cold blue eyes or the continual, creepy half-smile.

Ilook- she thought that was his name- walked quietly up to the captive acrobat and shook his head. "My quarrel isn't with you, girl," he said softly, "but I'm sure I'll figure out something to do with you." His grin broadened unpleasantly. "In the meantime- _sleep_."

The last thing Ty Lee saw was his fist coming straight towards her face, and she knew no more.

#############

Azula had finally fallen fitfully asleep, and found herself slipping into dreams. This was different from the nightmares that had plagued her ever since her breakdown on the day of the Comet- something more subtle and disquieting. She was fleeing through the corridors of the Fire Nation palace, pursued by something she could neither see nor touch, but was there nonetheless. Finally she turned to confront her pursuer, but as she raised her hands to unleash a powerful fireblast, she recoiled in shock at the sight of them. They were a child's hands- she was a child- and she was helpless against the shadow that wrapped around her and smothered her…

The sound of footsteps penetrated the dream, followed by the feeling of someone grabbing her hair. Even half-asleep, Azula reacted without thought- her legs lashed out, catching her assailant and hurling him bodily to the ground. In an instant she was on her feet, eyes open and fire in her hands as she looked down at a fallen soldier in Earth Kingdom green. "Attack!" she shouted even before consciously noting the other presences moving at the edge of her vision.

From behind, some part of Azula heard and registered the sound of people scrambling to their feet and engaging the other attackers, but her focus was completely on the man before her. He pulled himself back up into a standing position and pulled out a long knife that gleamed in the firelight. "Come and get it, girlie," he taunted, stabbing the air with the weapon.

"As you wish," Azula replied casually, and with a flying kick she knocked the knife from the man's hand and sent him stumbling backwards. He raised both hands to defend himself, but the princess was on him, striking hard and fast. She didn't use fire- after all, she wanted him alive so that she could find out who sent him. Besides, Azula could already tell that she wouldn't need bending to deal with this fool.

A quick punch caught the attacker on the throat, and he stumbled back again, wheezing. Azula slammed him against the trunk of a nearby tree and caught his shirt collar, raising a fireball menacingly in the other hand. "Tell me who sent you," she snarled. "Are you one of Jian Chin's?"

The man didn't answer, but someone else did. "He is," a vaguely familiar voice said, "but at the moment, he's working for _me_." Azula's eyes widened as she twisted her body to the side to avoid the coming blow- sure enough, a long spear of ice shot passed, barely grazing her. Her captive wasn't so lucky. The makeshift weapon pierced his body and left him pinned against the tree, his mouth open in a silent scream.

The princess turned slowly to face her enemy. Ilook the waterbender stood there with the same casual savagery she remembered from their last encounter, his usually cold eyes glinting with amusement. He smiled and raised both hands, water rushing up from the pouches at his sides to form into icy claws around them. "You and I," he said, flexing his new talons, "have business to discuss."

"Business involving my imminent and no doubt messy death?" Azula asked. "No thanks." She looked over Ilook's shoulders, but her companions seemed quite tied up facing down three other soldiers, at least one of whom seemed to be an earthbender, if the way the ground was heaving around them was any indication. No help from that quarter, at least not yet. "What did you do to Ty Lee?" she asked, deciding to keep him talking in the hopes that would ultimately cause him to slip up.

Ilook shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing, yet. Don't expect her to come to your aid at any time soon, though- I'm afraid she's quite tied up at the moment."

"Don't you know that puns are the refuge of braggarts trying to sound clever?" Azula replied. "And anyway, I don't need help to beat you." The princess snarled and one hand shot out- a fireblast launched from it and headed straight for Ilook's face.

The mad waterbender ducked away and avoided singeing more than a few hairs. Slicing one arm through the air, he launched all five talons from one hand and sent the sharp projectiles flying towards Azula. She met them in midair with a jet of flame, vaporizing them before they even came close to threatening her. Allowing herself a vicious smile of her own, the princess called up a lightning charge and let it fly. Ilook would need to be quick indeed to dodge that- and if he tried to block it with water, he would be in for a rude surprise.

Ilook was fast, but not fast enough. The lightning struck his arm and he collapsed to his knees, twitching in obvious agony. To his credit, he didn't scream or cry out- or maybe he didn't even consciously register pain in the same way a normal person did. Azula knew that not all madness was the same. In any event, she stalked over to him and pulled him to his feet.

"Now then," she said coldly, "I'm curious as to what exactly brings a pirate to the middle of a worthless piece of Earth Kingdom land- dry land."

"I'm a mercenary," Ilook said weekly. "I took a job- it happens."

"A job," Azula mused. "With Jian Chin, I would imagine? So I suppose really is alive."

Ilook suddenly smiled wider than before. "Certainly more alive than _you're_ about to be!" he spat. Quicker than the eye could follow, one hand came up and pressed itself to Azula's forehead. She barely had time to register that it was soaking wet when it began to glow, and then pain shot through her skull, and from there her whole body.

Azula couldn't help herself- she screamed and sank to her knees. She had known pain before, but never anything quite like this- it was as if her whole body was tearing itself apart from within. Ilook crouched in front of her, hand still pressed to her forehead. "I have a few tricks, too," he whispered. "Funny, isn't it, but so true- what heals can also destroy."

The princess struggled to sit up, launch fire, or even just curse him, but the agony was too much. It swallowed her whole being, and then there was nothing.

#############

Ilook pressed his hand harder against Azula's forehead as she writhed and kicked. It really was amazing, how such a simple twist on a waterbender's healing power allowed one to deal such a wide spectrum of exquisite agony. Of course, the fact that it required touch and time made it of limited value as a combat technique, but Ilook knew that pain had so many more applications than just fighting. His old master, Pakku, wouldn't have dreamed of such a technique, but then he'd always been a sour old fool. Ilook had taken waterbending farther than he ever had, and for that the younger man got called monster and banished forever from his tribe. It hadn't been much, really- just a few turtle-seals, oh, and that matter with one of the sub-chiefs' daughters- but it had been enough to get all those idiots to exile their most promising young waterbender. For a moment Ilook allowed himself to imagine he was using his technique on a helpless Pakku, that it was the waterbending master who writhed and screamed beneath his hand...

Foosteps sounded behind him, and he looked up in irritation. "Can't I just have five more…" he started to say, when the jet of fire struck him in the side and sent him flying into a nearby tree.

Ilook pulled himself to his feet and called some water out of his pouch to douse his burning clothing. That task done, he looked up to see his attacker standing over the body of the princess- an older woman who looked enough like her that she had to be a blood relative, her golden eyes blazing like twin suns.

"Ah," Ilook said weekly. "You must be mommy."

The woman's eyes narrowed dangerously- she leveled a hand and shot a jet of fire that missed his head by inches, if that. "Leave now," she said, her cold voice at odds with her fiery power. "If you ever come near my daughter again, then by Agni I'll kill you." There was something in her voice that made Ilook realize she meant every word. Mentally he marked down irate mothers next to berserk warriors and bending prodigies as Things To Avoid At All Costs.

"Come on, men," he shouted. Two of Jian Chin's soldiers pulled away from fighting and hurried over to him- the other lay on the ground, unconscious or dead. Ilook didn't care which. "We're leaving."

Shooting a last, hate-filled glare at the princess's mother, he turned and fled into the night.

#############

It took a great deal of effort, flexibility, and body heat, but Ty Lee was finally able to free herself from her icy shackles. Dropping lightly to the ground, she tore the gag from her mouth and ran back to camp. The attackers were nowhere in sight, except for one who looked quite dead and was being dragged off into the woods by Shin's men. The captain himself stood behind Ursa, who was crouched over something on the ground. It took a moment for Ty Lee to realize that it was Azula.

Ursa was performing her strange healing again- Ty Lee could see the glow as she bent down beside her friend's body. She looked at it closely, and then shook her head and looked again. She'd never seen anything quite like it- Azula seemed physically fine, was breathing evenly, but her aura was gone.

"What happened?" the acrobat asked. "What's wrong with her?"

Ursa shook her head. "I don't know- I've never heard of that technique the waterbender used on her. Of course, I'm not an expert on waterbending, so I'm not sure if that means much. Azula is alive, but I can't wake her."

"She was like that for awhile after the Comet," Ty Lee said. "But that was a bit different, because she was awake most of the time- she just didn't know who anybody was, or really who she was. Maybe he messed with her chi? I think waterbenders can do that, but I thought they just healed that way."

"In any event, I recognized the waterbender," Shin said. "He's mercenary scum. And if those uniforms on the others were anything to go by, he's working for Jian Chin now."

"Then we need to get to Ba Sing Se," Ty Lee said. "We need to warn them." She looked down at Azula's living but deathly still body. "And maybe there's someone there who can help her."

#############

Ilook and his two surviving henchmen paused some distance from the scene of battle. "Well, did it work?" one of the soldiers asked- Ilook didn't know his name. He also didn't care, so that wasn't a problem.

"Azula is probably dead after what I did to her," he said. "Even if she's not, she'll be in no shape to oppose Jian Chin now. He will reward us all."

"Maybe we should go back and make sure," the other soldier suggested.

"You can feel free. I'm not going back to face that crazy woman again."

Both soldiers laughed. "Yeah," the first one said, "that's funny- you calling someone crazy. We saw you doing whatever you did to the princess- you liked it. You're the only one who's nuts around here!"

Ilook shook his head disapprovingly. "You know, you've been a good little minion and I would have almost let you live, but those manners of yours really are deplorable." Before either man could react to that comment, he formed a pair of ice daggers in his hands and hurled them with practiced accuracy. Both soldiers fell dead, ice embedded in their throats. "But now you won't have to worry about that again."

Turning casually away from the bodies, Ilook stalked off into the night.

#############

Azula came to herself slowly. She was lying on the ground, surrounded by strange green light. Deciding that must be an aftereffect of the waterbender's strange attack, she slowly stood and looked around.

She was standing in a forest, but it was not the one she had left. The trees were evenly spaced and not of any type she recognized- the green light was coming from them. All manner of strange creatures- some she recognized, so she didn't- perched in the branches, watching her. After a few moments they seemed to lose interest and scurried away, but she was certain she heard faintly mocking laughter from among the trees. That couldn't be right. Even when she'd been mad, Azula had known full well that animals couldn't talk.

Seeing no one around, she raised her hands to cup her mouth and called. "Ty Lee! Mother! Captain Shin! Where are you?" The only response was more laughter.

"More to the point," Azula whispered as the last echoes faded, "where am I? And how do I get back?" For one time in her life, she found herself out of ideas.


	8. Chapter 7: The Spirit World

**Chapter 7: The Spirit World**

Xang sat in his tent, poring over lists of new recruits, organized based on what weapons they were skilled with, and supplies. This sort of detailed task often fell to him- Jian Chin had always considered it beneath his dignity, and simply had never been very good at it to begin with. The new version seemed much more patient and competent, but had as of yet showed no greater tendency towards helping in the day to day running of his army. That was fine by Xang.

They had finished recruiting from the nearby towns and villages- the wild land around Jian Chin's fortress had been stripped clean of the peasants and petty bandits that had inhabited it, their numbers going to swell the ranks of his army. Most were untrained and had simply been given spears and instructed to stick the sharp end in the enemy; others, especially those who had found work as pirates and mercenaries, were more skilled and had been formed into companies. Earthbenders formed an elite guard. It was a more impressive force than any Jian Chin had ever commanded, but Xang thought it still wasn't enough to take Ba Sing Se- or at least, he thought that briefly, until he remembered the feats he'd seen the resurrected warlord perform. That was a factor that would make the coming battle just about even.

Of course, there were a few loose ends- one of whom had been troubling both Jian Chin and his second for the last two days…

"Sir!" a voice called from outside of his tent. "My lord Xang!"

"What is it?" Xang shouted back. "I trust you have reason for interrupting my work?"

"Yes, sir," the soldier said again. "We have the waterbender Ilook here for you. We caught him just as he was coming into camp a few minutes ago."

Xang quickly rose to his feet and shoved his way through his tent flap. Ilook was held between the arms of two soldiers, looking bedraggled and somewhat worse for the wear- were those burn marks on his clothing? His expression, though, was the same as ever- an eerie, fixed half-smile that left Xang torn between wanting to look away and wanting to hit him.

"So you came back," Xang said sternly. "I'm surprised- Jian Chin doesn't take kindly to deserters, and most wouldn't dare show their faces around him again. And where are the others you took with you? Were they too cowardly to return?"

Ilook laughed quietly. "Deserter? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, my friend."

The second snorted. "Really. Then do you have another word for running off unannounced with three of our men days after you were hired?"

"I was settling some unfinished business, and I didn't want to trouble the warlord with the sordid details of my personal life." His smile broadened. "As you can see, I have returned, and am willing to accept whatever punishment my lord sees fit. Notice that I'm even allowing these men to hold me in place, even though I could easily defeat them if I wanted to."

Xang considered that. "It will be for Jian Chin to decide your punishment, Ilook. But first, tell me this- where are the others you took with you?"

Ilook hung his head and closed his eyes as though grieving, but he couldn't quite banish his smile. "They... will not be returning, I am afraid."

"What?" Xang demanded angrily. "You led men of this army to their deaths and you expect us to welcome you back with open arms?" He threw back his cloak and half-drew his sword from its sheath. "I ought to-"

"Calm yourself, my friend," a deep voice rumbled, and Xang turned to see Jian Chin himself emerging from his tent and coming to stand before Ilook. The two guards released the waterbender's arms and hurled him to the warlord's feet. Jian Chin bent over him and studied him intently. "Now then, explain to us what you were doing that resulted in the death of my men."

"I was attending to my own business," Ilook muttered.

"TELL ME!" Jian Chin thundered, and the earth itself shook with his voice. For a brief moment even Ilook seemed cowed. Xang could almost see the wheels turning in the waterbender's mind, and then finally he seemed to decide to speak something close to the truth.

"I sought revenge on Princess Azula," he said stiffly. "She bested me in combat not long ago, and when I heard your scouts had found her I decided to make her pay. I did not think you would object."

Jian Chin's eyes narrowed dangerously to piercing green embers. "That depends," he said softly. "I have plans for Azula. If she lives, I won't punish you. If, on the other hand, she is dead… well then, I'm not sure even your imagination would cover what I would do to you."

"She was alive when I last saw her," Ilook said. "But she might be dead now. I know I hurt her before I was forced to retreat."

Jian Chin closed his eyes and a thoughtful expression crossed his face- it was so out-of-place with what Xang knew of the man that he started momentarily. Finally he spoke. "Guards, watch Ilook at all times- do not let him leave the camp. If I find out Azula lives, he will be released. If she is dead, he will join her. Is that understood."

Both guards nodded, but Ilook only chuckled. "You really think these two fools can hold me?" he asked.

"No," Jian Chin said. "But I think _I_ can, and if you kill them and try to escape, it will be _I _you will have to deal with."

"Understood," Ilook spat, but his expression was wary. Clearly Jian Chin was not a foe he desired to face any time soon. Straightening up, he allowed the guards to escort him away. Xang watched them go, and when he was certain they were out of earshot he turned to the warlord.

"Are you certain about this?" he asked. "If that man isn't mad then no one is, and he could be as much a danger to us as the enemy. I think we should kill him now, or at least get rid of him."

Jian Chin chuckled softly, and for a brief moment Xang thought he heard another voice overlaid with the warlord's. "He may be mad, but he is too valuable an asset to be killed outright. Besides, I know that Azula lives. I do not know what her condition is, but I would know if she was dead. Tomorrow I will free Ilook, saying that I received this information in a dream. I only want him to sweat- and to realize that powerful as he is, _I _am master here."

"Your wisdom astounds me, lord," Xang said with a bow, and that statement was entirely accurate. "May I ask how you come by such knowledge?"

"I have my ways," Jian Chin rumbled. "Now that our noble waterbender is returned, the army is assembled. Gather your officers and tell them to prepare the men to move out. Today we begin the march towards Ba Sing Se- and victory."

############

Azula walked slowly and warily through the strange forest she found herself in. The trees seemed to go on forever in every direction, with no variation or distinctive features that she could find, and the whispering creatures in the branches were beginning to severely annoy her. Setting the canopy on fire would have no benefit beyond personal satisfaction, but increasingly that seemed like sufficient reason.

"Azula," a clear voice- a _human_ voice- suddenly said from behind her. The princess whirled to find a man standing in the path before her, where no man had been moments ago. He was old, with long, flowing white hair and beard, and was dressed in the rich clothes of Fire Nation nobility. His features seemed familiar, though she could not place them. A small crown was perched on his topknot, and Azula's eyes widened as she recognized the headpiece that belonged to the Fire Lord's heir- a headpiece that had been lost for generations, until her brother had suddenly begun wearing it in the days before the Eclipse.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "How do you know my name, and by what right do you wear an heirloom of my family?"

"Now I am a spirit," the old man said, "but once I was your great-grandfather."

"Liar," Azula said. "You're not Sozin- he was shorter than you are and wore a different style of beard. Still, there's something about you…" The princess's brow furrowed as she cast her mind back through scrolls of family history, trying to recall which Fire Lord, prince, or royal cousin bore these features.

The old man smiled. "I never claimed to be Sozin, though I knew him well. I am your _mother's_ grandfather- Avatar Roku."

Azula's eyes widened. _That_ was a piece of family history her mother had neglected to mention, though she assumed her father must have known. He would have checked the genealogy of his betrothed extensively, to make certain of her blood and pedigree. "And what do you want with me, Avatar Roku?" she asked in a falsely polite voice. "Are you perhaps here to gloat at the predicament of your successor's enemy? Because if you are, I really am disappointed. So much for the myth of the Avatar being above pettiness."

"I am here to help you, Azula," Roku said patiently. "I already helped you once today- with Agni's help I was able to bring your spirit here in order to protect it from the mad waterbender Ilook."

"And what do you gain from that?" Azula asked. In her experience, powerful people never did anything just out of altruism, and though she had far less experience with spirits, she doubted they were much different. "And for that matter, where exactly are we?"

"The Spirit World," Roku explained. "As I said, Agni and I brought you here to save your life. You know that there is a dark spirit loose in the mortal world- his name is Zhan Zheng, and he is the embodiment of war. For reasons we do not know, he has fixated upon you as being somehow key to his victory. We believe that you could also be the key to his defeat."

"The Spirit World," Azula muttered, supporting herself against a tree. "That explains things. Speaking of explanations, what do you mean 'key to his defeat'?"

A shadow crossed Roku's features. "I do not know," he said. "I have consulted with the great spirits- Agni, the Moon and Ocean, the other past Avatars- but while our knowledge is great, it is not complete. Zhan Zheng hides himself from us on the border between your world and ours. We cannot reach him there without abandoning our own duties, and were the sun to do dark or the sea run dry for even an hour, the mortal world would be devastated. Neither can he be harmed by mortals directly- he will just abandon his host and move to another."

"Wei Ming," Azula said. "And now Jian Chin, I take it? Very well- this information is valuable. Now then- you brought me here. I must return to my body at once."

Roku shook his head. "I cannot help you."

"What do you mean?" Azula demanded. "It's simple- you brought me to this world. If you want me to fight this spirit Zhan Zheng, you need to send me back."

"We were able to bring you here because the waterbender's attack was already separating your spirit from its body. My knowledge of this realm is not as extensive as you might think- I was an Avatar, and I experience the Spirit World as an Avatar. Were you an Avatar as well I could guide you back, but you are not. It is rare for an ordinary mortal to come here- few know the paths by which you may return." *

Azula's fingers dug into the tree bark. "So you're saying I'm trapped here forever?" she snarled. "Then what was even the point of saving me?"

Roku held up a hand. "Not far from here there is a place where you may go to find answers- the Well of Time. It can reveal great knowledge to you, and it may show you the way to return to your body. We brought you as close to it as we could for this reason. Even if it does not, it can show you one who does possess this knowledge." He pointed off towards the right, though Azula had no idea what the direction was in this place. "If you require additional guidance, speak my name and I shall come to you." The old man's form began to ripple and fade, but his voice spoke one last time. "And remember- this is a world of powers other than bending. Your firebending is of no use here- you must rely on your will alone." Then he was gone.

Azula snarled in frustration and punched at the air, attempting to produce a fireblast- nothing. The old man Roku- if that's who he really was- had been right; she was without bending here. Only twice before in memory had she been without her powers- once during the eclipse, and once after escaping from General Azun's soldiers. The eclipse she had known would end; while on the run she had also lost most of her memories, and therefore didn't fully understand what she had lost.

This time, she understood, and she also had her full faculties about her. Azula would find her way home- without Roku's help, if at all possible- and then she would confront this spirit Zhan Zheng who thought to make her his pawn.

Turning in the direction to which Roku had pointed, she began to walk.

*I know Sokka entered the Spirit World in the episode of the same name and came back easily enough, but Azula's situation here is a bit different. She hasn't entered the Spirit World in body- only her spirit itself has. For someone who isn't an Avatar, putting the two back together isn't as easy as it sounds.


	9. Chapter 8: A Duel of Titans

**Chapter 8: A Duel of Titans**

The army of Jian Chin marched westward at a grueling pace, leaving the lawless lands behind and entering the Earth Kingdom proper. This was a land of small villages and ordered farmland- having been left relatively alone by the Fire Nation, it was now prospering in the new era of peace. Nothing prepared these people for the coming of Jian Chin, and for the most part they fled at his arrival. Those few who remained tried to fight, but they were swept away by the warlord's own raw power. Very few here were willing to join with the conquering forces.

"What of those who escaped, lord?" Xang asked Jian Chin while watching his men loot an abandoned village nearby. "Shall we pursue them- keep them from revealing our location to the Earth King?"

"No," Jian Chin told him with a shake of his head. "They will have dispersed by now- we would never capture them all, and I have no desire to waste time. Besides, I don't want to be a secret- I want the Earth King to know that I am coming, and fear."

"With all due respect, sir," Xang said, "this army consists of just over a thousand warriors. The ruler of the largest nation in the world won't be afraid of us!"

Jian Chin smiled grimly. "He will fear me." As if to prove his point, the warlord clenched one massive fist, and the earth rumbled all around him. As it stilled, one of the army's perimeter scouts came running up, dropping to his knees as he did so. The warlord regarded him with regal disdain, waiting for him to speak.

Finally, Xang broke the silence. "What is it, man?" he demanded. "You don't come running up to the warlord for no reason at all- what did you see?"

"Lords," the soldier said, "I saw something flying through the sky- coming this way. It was big, and white- and some of the others said that it was a kind of creature like the Avatar is supposed to ride on. If he's coming here… well, you needed to know."

A dry laugh sounded from behind them, and Jian Chin and Xang turned to face Ilook, who had been standing there silently the whole time. "The Avatar against the resurrected warlord," the mad waterbender said, still laughing. "This should be interesting!"

"Yes," Jian Chin growled, turning back to the sky and peering up into it. Xang did so as well, and he thought he could make out a flying shape coming towards them. "Yes it will."

#############

"I see them!" Aang called out from his position at the front of Appa's saddle, holding the reins. "Right where those refugees we talked to said they would be."

Katara came forward and knelt down beside him, looking at the scene below- a small village, its inhabitants driven off or killed, was being ransacked by a mob of men (they could barely be called an army) in unfamiliar, crude green uniforms. A smaller group stood away from the chaos, apparently watching it without much interest. "They're just like the Fire Nation!" the waterbender said hotly, memories of another raid from long ago washing over her. "Things like this… it was all supposed to be over after you beat the Fire Lord. There was supposed to be _peace_."

"Don't worry, Katara," Aang said, smiling. "We beat Ozai and Azula, and we can beat this guy too. But first, I want to try and talk to him. Maybe we can find a way to end this without fighting."

Katara shook her head. Aang was her best friend, and she loved him, but sometimes he had a little _too_ much faith in the inherent goodness of everyone around him. "You know that's probably not going to work," she said quietly.

For a moment, a very serious and old look crossed Aang's cheerful features. "I know. But I'm the Avatar. I have to try." Picking up his staff from where it lay along the side of the saddle, he flipped its switch and the glider-wings sprang into position.

"Good luck," Katara said, wrapping him in a fierce embrace. "If you look like you need help, I'll be there."

"Thanks." Grabbing tightly to the glider's hand and footholds, Aang leaped off into the air.

#############

As he watched the small figure on the glider approaching, for the first time in weeks Jian Chin knew fear. Sure the kid didn't look like much- even from this distance, he was clearly scrawny and only in his early teens- but the warlord knew that he had somehow managed to take down Fire Lord Ozai. Though his ego hated to admit it, he knew that Ozai had been a far more fearsome conqueror than he had ever been, and he wondered whether even his enhanced powers would be enough to save him.

_Fear not!_ The voice of the spirit Zhan Zheng echoed in the warlord's head. Now another emotion was overwhelming terror- hatred, raw and utter, pouring in from the spirit's mind. _He is powerful beyond the dreams of mortals- but so are we! We shall crush him here today, and then there shall be no one left who can stop us._

Jian Chin smiled.

As the Avatar approached the ground, the army backed away from his intended landing site fearfully, clutching their weapons in their shaking hands. Jian Chin stepped forward to face him, noticing but not caring that both Xang and Ilook were hanging back. The warlord gave a quick glance up to the sky, making certain that the flying beast was still circling and not about to dive down on him. Then he focused his burning gaze once more on the Avatar.

The kid stepped forward as well, a look in his eyes that was older than his apparent years. "Jian Chin!" he called. "I am the Avatar. I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't stop this attack and turn your army around now, I may have to. Please listen to me- I don't want to have to solve this with fighting."

For a moment, all was still. And then Jian Chin threw back his head and laughed, laughed far longer than any human being should have been capable of, laughed until the earth itself began to shake from the force of it. All fear had left him now- he was the warlord, the true heir of Chin the Conqueror and now the mortal embodiment of the spirit of War. No child, even if that child was the Avatar, could possibly best him. He did not speak these words aloud, however- he didn't have to. His laughter spoke for him.

And then, quicker than one could imagine a man as large as him moving, Jian Chin struck. One foot came down, striking the earth with a sound like the world's largest drum being pounded, and the ground split open before him. A chasm was torn in the earth, and it shot towards the Avatar with blinding speed. But when it struck, he was no longer there- he had jumped into the air the moment before the chasm reached him, and now floated gently down to one side.

"I'm sorry," the Avatar said quietly. Striking even faster than the warlord had, he thrust his fist forward and shot a fireblast that seared the air as it shot towards him. Jian Chn's instinct was to dodge, or perhaps raise a wall of earth to defend himself, but in the back of his mind he heard Zhan Zheng's chuckling voice telling him to wait- the fire had no power over him now. And that was so- even as the fireblast struck him full in the chest it broke apart and vanished, leaving not even a scorch mark to show where it had been.

"You see?" Jian Chin asked. "Your powers cannot affect me, Avatar. The spirits are my allies, not yours!"

The Avatar's eyes narrowed at that, as if he didn't quite know what to make of what had just happened but wasn't about to give up. Falling into an earthbending stance, he pulled a number of small boulders up from the ground and shot them at his enemy one after another. Jian Chin batted them aside with ease and smiled. Did the boy honestly think to defeat him with his own element? Taking a stance of his own, he tore the hugest boulder he could free of the ground and hurled it towards the Avatar. The boy leaped into the air to meet it, bringing his staff forward as he did so. Jian Chin could almost see the air blur around it as he gathered it for the strike. Then staff and rock impacted, and the boulder was shattered into a cloud of gravel that rained back to the earth in a small torrent.

With the Avatar's attention focused on their lord, several of the soldiers began to advance behind him, weapons raised. Jian Chin waved them away. "This is our fight, man to man," he rumbled. "None but I may lay hands on him."

He turned back to his foe. "It seems our bending is evenly matched, boy," he said. "Perhaps we should settle this through a contest of physical strength- though I fear that would not be such an equal challenge!" The warlord chuckled as he spoke and flexed his muscular arms. But the Avatar did not rise to the bait- instead he just stood there, eyes closed as though he was deep in concentration. Jian Chin scowled- he'd heard the Air Nomads were monks, but meditating in the middle of a battlefield was ridiculous.

_He is not meditating!_ Zhan Zheng snarled into his mind. _He prepares his greatest weapon, and you must stand firm!_ Suddenly Jian Chin knew what was about to happen, and for a moment fear gripped him again, only to slip away and be replaced by calm confidence. When he survived this, his men would know absolutely that he was divine.

The Avatar's eyes snapped open suddenly, glowing pure white with power. He rose slowly into the air and it swirled around him, becoming a tornado of pure energy. The men fell back from him and cowered, and even solid, capable Xang seemed worried. From Ilook came a burst of mad laughter, borne of hate and fear mixed with envy. But Jian Chin stood calmly, arms crossed as he awaited the onslaught.

It came with sudden force that almost left him breathless. Rocks shot into the air and hurled themselves straight at him, the air struck with enough force to slice through trees, fireballs blasted him with the heat of a thousand suns. There was no convenient source of water nearby, or else surely that element would have hurled itself at him as well. And yet he was unharmed- the rocks smashed themselves into dust against his stone-hard skin, the wind was forced to pass around his unyielding form, and the fire burst but did not burn him. Protected by the power of his patron, the lord of war, Jian Chin stood in the heart of the maelstrom and smiled.

#############

From within the focused chaos that was the mastered Avatar State, Aang knew that he had a problem. He had never imagined that he would face an opponent more dangerous than Fire Lord Ozai, but here he was proven wrong. It wasn't Jian Chin's bending that was defeating him- from what little he'd seen, the warlord had power but no real idea of how to use it beyond smashing his enemies into pulp, and he was certain he'd be able to figure out how to beat it given enough time- but this strange immunity was both frustrating and a little scary. The Avatar State packed enough power to level mountains, if it came to that- no human should be able to stand there and just ignore it.

Unless the warlord wasn't really human anymore. Roku had warned him about the spirit that was helping Jian Chin- maybe it had found some way to live inside his body? Aang didn't know if something like that would work, but he did know that a spirit could be tied to a living person- he was living proof of that, and Princess Yue had been too.

Aang was supposed to be the Great Bridge between the mortal and spirit worlds, but he had to admit his knowledge of the powers spirits had and how to beat them was very limited. But maybe he had a weapon that the spirit Roku had called Zhan Zheng wouldn't be able to defend against…

A plan in mind, Aang stopped his assault on the warlord and dropped back to the ground. Still in the Avatar State, he was able to manipulate even earth- the element he found most difficult- with skill and power beyond what even the greatest masters could do. Focusing on the ground, he called shackles from it that bound Jian Chin's ankles and wrists tightly to it. The warlord struggled, and soon his own earthbending would let him break free, but for now he was trapped. Aang allowed the Avatar State to slip away and stepped forward, placing his hand on Jian Chin's forehead and calling on the power he had only used once before.

"To bend another's spirit, your own spirit must be unbendable." The Lion Turtle's words came back to Aang as he brought all of his willpower to bear on Jian Chin. The last time he used this ability, it had been almost two years ago, to strip Fire Lord Ozai of the bending power he had abused. Now Aang used his spirit bending for a different purpose- to find and sever the link that bound the spirit Zhan Zheng to his mortal host. Deeper he slipped into the twilit area between the worlds- and suddenly he realized that he was not alone.

_Foolish child!_ A voice that sounded like the scraping of metal on stone said. _You thought that you could defeat me here? This is my dominion, and I will not be driven from it lightly. You are strong, Avatar- oh yes, you are strong- but here, I am stronger._

A shape appeared out of the darkness of Jian Chin's mind- a slender, graceful human figure that seemed very familiar, even through the shadows that concealed all but its eyes. These burned first red, then blue, then green, then white- all the colors of the bending nations. Zhan Zheng was an evil born of all the peoples of the world, not just the Fire Nation alone, and it fought with all their strengths. It seized Aang's wrists, and cold fire rushed through his body. He tried to tear free, but found that he could not- all his body had been frozen by the spirit's touch. He was trapped, and now it leaned closer, its glowing eyes inches from his face.

_Sleep, Avatar_, it crooned. _You have failed- it is all over now. There is nothing you can do to save your friends, your people, or your world. There is no point in resisting any longer. Sleep, and let it all pass away._

For a brief moment he considered giving in, letting the darkness carry away all of his cares and fears, but then his resolve hardened. He was the Avatar, and he had a job to do- and more than that, he couldn't just abandon his friends, or the world… or Katara. As the waterbender's face flashed across his mind, new strength filled Aang's spirit. Zhan Zheng seemed to recoil from him, and he pulled himself from the spirit's clutches and hurled himself away. Then he was falling, falling, and…

#############

Katara watched the battle from Appa's saddle, hating not being able to do anything but not wanting to risk the entire army getting involved if she interfered. She'd felt like cheering when Aang had entered the Avatar State, and then been baffled and afraid when Jian Chin had proven immune. She thought she recognized what was happening when Aang bound the warlord and pressed his hands against his forehead, seemingly in a trance- but what happened next seemed all wrong. He'd seized up, and the jerked about as if he was trying to fight an invisible foe, and then he was torn away from Jian Chin and hurled across the field by some unseen power.

In an instant Katara had hold of Appa's reins and was shooting down towards the battlefield. Aang was lying in a heap, and Jian Chin didn't look much better, but the rest of the men raised weapons and prepared to meet her. Katara was ready for them, as was her mount. As Appa landed, he slammed his tail into the ground, releasing a blast of wind that knocked most of the warlord's men off their feet. Those few who remained standing were quickly taken down by shards of ice that shot towards them from the waterbender's hands. When the area was clear around them, Katara leaped from Appa's back and grabbed hold of Aang's body.

Once, in Ba Sing Se, she'd held him as he'd been dying, and she remembered that fear now. This situation was clearly different, though- Aang's body had no marks on it, and he was breathing fine. He wasn't dead or even dying, but whatever had happened when he tried to spiritbend Jian Chin had shaken him to his very core. She needed to get him out of here.

The warlord was getting clumsily to his feet, tearing his bindings out of the earth as he did so. Beside him, his soldiers were recovering as well and readying their weapons. Grabbing tight hold of Aang, Katara pulled him back onto Appa's saddle and shot off into the sky. Below, she saw one man who stood near the warlord was watching her intently, a hungry smile on his thin face. He looked about ready to launch some sort of attack against the sky bison, but then another man called him angrily back to Jian Chin's side, where he began what was unmistakably a waterbending healing on the warlord. Katara didn't know why an earthbender warlord would have a waterbender working for him, but at the moment she had more pressing concerns.

Once they were safely in the sky, she began a healing of her own on Aang. Katara didn't know if she was doing any good- she wasn't even sure what was wrong with him- but it made her feel better. Finally he opened his eyes and smiled weakly at her, before drifting off into normal sleep. Katara hugged him, and sighed in relief, mixed with unease.

For the first time since the end of the war- and one of only a few times since she'd known him- the Avatar had failed.


	10. Chapter 9: The Well of Time

**Chapter 9: The Well of Time**

The spirit forest felt strangely unreal to Azula as she ran among its trees. There wasn't anything obvious that differentiated it from similar places in the mortal world, apart from the persistent whispering voices, but to the princess's keen instincts there was something slightly… off, all the same. No matter how ordinary the forest might look, it wasn't her world- wasn't even the same _kind_ of reality, and it was something that even with a hundred years of study she could never understand.

Azula neither liked nor trusted what she couldn't understand.

She didn't know how long she'd been running in the direction Avatar Roku had pointed out to her- it could have been hours, minutes, or days. She couldn't keep track of time here (if time even had meaning in the Spirit World); she didn't feel tired, but that might just mean that as pure spirit she didn't have to worry about exhaustion. Again, it was something important that she had no way of knowing. Azula had stopped a handful of times to experiment with her firebending, but had had no more luck and accessing her powers than before. This was different than the time that she had lost her firebending along with her memory- then the power had simply been _not there_, in reflection of her own inner turmoil. This time she could still feel that her bending was present, it just wouldn't come.

In any event, the reasons didn't matter. It just meant that she'd have to meet any challenges in this world with skill and wits alone, something that would be annoying but was well within her capabilities.

The forest ended so suddenly that it took a moment for Azula to register the change. One minute she had been among the green, glowing trees- the next, they were gone, and she was standing amid jagged rocks that rose steadily ahead of her for as far as her eyes could see. Blinking in the suddenly bright light- like the sun, though no sun was visible- the princess turned back to look at the forest, where she saw that indeed the dividing line was perfectly straight and sudden. Shaking her head, she considered whether to call for Roku's advice or not. Quickly, she decided against it- she wouldn't allow herself to become dependent on him, and now that she paused, Azula could feel something up ahead- something calling…

She began to pick her way carefully through the rocks, not knowing if a fall here would do permanent damage but deciding not to risk it. Heat seemed to rise from all around her as she walked, but she ignored it, focusing solely on the task before her. Finally she crested the top of a rocky ridge, and found herself on a flat, open, perfectly circular plain. In its heart was a hole, about twice as wide as Azula was tall and filled with nothing but swirling shadows. Sitting between the princess and what she assumed to be the Well of Time was a dark-furred monkey that appeared to be, of all things, meditating.

After pausing a moment to take in the odd sight, Azula dismissed it as unimportant and marched towards the Well. Before she could reach it, however, the monkey's tail snaked out and lashed at her feet- she had to stumble back quickly to avoid being tripped. The annoying little creature then opened first one eye, then the other, then both, regarding her carefully.

"I am the Guardian of the Well of Time," he said in a surprisingly deep voice. "Before you go within to commune with it and learn its secrets, you must tell me these things- who you are, and what you seek. I shall decide whether or not to let you pass."

For a moment anger flashed in Azula's mind- who was this wretched little monkey to get in the way of her return home?- but she quickly mastered it. Much as she hated to admit it, he had the advantage here. She needed to play by the Spirit World's rules if she was to have any hope of escaping. "I seek the knowledge of how to return to my own world," Azula said with as much cool dignity as she could muster. "My name is Azula of the Fire Nation."

The monkey nodded slowly. "I did not ask your name," he said. "I asked you _who you are_."

A riddle, the princess thought. She knew enough about the Spirit World to know that its inhabitants were fond of such games- really, she should have expected something like this to happen. Thinking quickly, Azula decided on an answer that was close to what the creature wanted. "I am the Princess of the Fire Nation, daughter of Ozai and Ursa, granddaughter of Azulon, great-granddaughter of Sozin and Roku, sister of Fire Lord Zuko." She named her brother last, but something she didn't quite understand told her she shouldn't leave him out completely. Besides, the logical part of her brain reminded, mentioning her relation to one of the mortal world's reigning monarchs couldn't hurt her pedigree.

But the cursed monkey only shook his head, more forcefully this time. "I did not ask what you are," he said. "I asked who you are."

"I have no time for games! I need to get home!" Azula shouted, her temper finally getting the better of her. Jumping forward, she struck at the monkey Guardian, only to be thrown back by some invisible force and sent sprawling among the rocks. "Stupid, stupid," she muttered under her breath. "You knew that something like that would happen, but you let him provoke you anyway. It's just a riddle- you were always good at that sort of thing. Think!"

Finally she thought she had it. Pulling herself back to her feet, Azula climbed back to the flat circle with the Well and the monkey- he now sat perfectly still again, meditating with his eyes closed. Still, he somehow must have been aware of her presence, because he spoke before she had the chance to say anything herself. "Do you have the answer? Or must I send you away again?"

"Yes," Azula said softly. "I am a warrior, a firebender, and a planner. I am the daughter of a proud royal house, heir to power and traditions that go back thousands of years. I have done great things, and terrible ones. I brought low a mighty nation, only to defeat myself in the end. But I will never surrender, never give up, because I know that there is no obstacle too great for me to outfight or outthink. I have been called hero, monster, lunatic, and everything in between. I was guided here by the spirit of the Avatar, who has been my worst enemy but is also my ancestor. And I am the thing that the spirit of War desires above all else." She looked at the Guardian intently, her blazing golden eyes daring him to challenge anything she said. "That is who I am. Let me pass."

The monkey nodded slowly. "Yes, that is who you are," he said. "You are many things, Princess of the Fire Nation, and now you stand at the turning point of your life. Rise above the ashes of your past, or be consumed as your ancestors were- the choice is yours. May the Well aide you in your search for truly understanding yourself."

"I don't need to understand myself, spirit," Azula said as she stepped towards the Well. Looking down into it, she could see no bottom among its shadows, but there were handholds carved into one side. Turning around, she lowered herself into the hole and began to climb down, grasping them firmly. "I just want to know how get back to my own place."

As the darkness swallowed her, though, she heard the monkey's voice. "Perhaps they are the same question."

#############

Aang groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, and then shut them again against the blinding sunlight. His head felt like Appa had decided to sit on it, and he couldn't remember what had happened since flying down to confront the warlord Jian Chin. Trying to put the pieces together, he could vaguely remember the Avatar State, and then spiritbending- and then something else, something horrible, with glowing eyes and hands so cold they burned, though that didn't make any sense.

"Here," a soft voice said. "Drink this." Aang felt something- a waterskin?- being shoved into his hands, and he brought it to his lips and drank greedily. When he was through, he opened his eyes more carefully this time, and as they adjusted he could make out the familiar figure leaning over him, blue eyes wide with concern.

"Hi, Katara," the Avatar said softly. "What happened?"

"I don't know," the waterbender said. "Whatever it was, though, it wasn't good. You tried to spiritbend Jian Chin, but you had some kind of fit. I was barely able to get you out of there." From behind Aang came an indignant rumble, and Katara smiled. "Of course, Appa helped. You've been out for a whole day since."

"Thanks, buddy," Aang said, reaching one hand behind him to stroke the sky bison's thick fur. Then, memory coming back to him, he turned to Katara. "It was that spirit- the one Roku told me about, Zhan Zheng. I thought he must be helping Jian Chin after the way my bending bounced off him, and I thought maybe if I used spiritbending I could break the connection. Only it turned out the spirit wasn't just helping- he's living inside Jian Chin's body. He nearly destroyed me, and there's no way I could bend his spirit and the warlord's at the same time. It's not the sort of thing that's easy to practice."

Katara looked thoughtful. "The spirit was inside of him? I didn't even know that was possible."

"Well, it _is_ kind of like how the Avatar works, if you think about it." Aang brightened as an idea occurred to him. "I bet he doesn't want to be like the Ocean and Moon spirits at the North Pole, where anybody could hurt them if they wanted to. This way, even if something happens to Jian Chin, Zhan Zheng will survive and be able to find a new body."

"Well then, if he's immortal and his spirit can't be bent, how are we going to stop him?" Katara asked. "The Fire Lord was bad enough, and he was only human. This spirit sounds like he might be even more powerful than you are."

"He's not," Aang said firmly. "I know that. There's a reason he's hiding inside Jian Chin- there's something he's afraid of. We can beat him- I know it. We just need to figure out how." Aang winced and rubbed his head. "But I think spiritbending is definitely out."

"Definitely," Katara said, allowing herself a small chuckle. "But that army needs to be stopped, and we need a plan- and neither of us are really plan people. We need more heads to put together."

"Katara, that's it!" Aang said, sitting up straight and then wincing as another burst of pain shot through his head. "This is too big for us to handle alone, bigger than anything since the end of the War. And we need someone to help us make a plan." An image of Katara's brother, looking over a ridiculously detailed travel schedule, flashed through his head. "I think it's time we got the whole group back together again."

#############

Azula descended into the darkness, her entire world shrinking to the act of climbing down the sheer rock wall of the Well, knowing that if she fell she would likely fall forever. The darkness drew thick around her, obscuring the light at the top of the Well, so that she couldn't even see her hands in front of her and had to rely on touch alone to find the next hold. Somehow, though, she managed to keep from falling.

Finally she came to the bottom, or at least a decently wide shelf of rock. Stepping away from the wall, the princess held her hands out in front of her and began to explore, wishing more than ever that she had her firebending. She seemed to be in a large chamber- it felt unknowably vast, but that had to be some sort of illusion. She hadn't climbed down _that_ far. And yet, when Azula tried to find the wall with the handholds again, she couldn't- it was as if it simply had never been there. Fear seized the princess like she had never experienced before. Suddenly it seemed inescapable that she would die down here, alone in the dark, and no one would ever know to what end the proud princess of the Fire Nation had come to. The only sound she could hear was that of her own breathing.

And then the voices started.


	11. Chapter 10: Shadows of Eternity

**Chapter 10: Shadows of Eternity**

The voices filled the air around Azula, each murmuring so softly that she couldn't make out the words, but together they were almost deafening. She spun in a circle, eyes straining into the darkness as she tried to find the source, to no avail. Whatever it was, this darkness was so thick that even her firebending probably wouldn't have illuminated much.

After a few minutes of listening to the ceaseless murmuring, Azula found that she could stand it no longer. "Who's there?" she demanded in her most imperious voice, hoping it would mask her growing uneasiness. "Show yourselves!"

The darkness shifted beyond the princess's line of vision and then seemed to lighten slightly- she could make out now that it was composed of layer on layer of shadow shapes, all twisted together. They were moving slowly, almost in time with the murmuring, and Azula had the feeling that somehow each was so thoroughly wrapped in itself that it wasn't even aware of its surroundings, or of her. Then one of them separated from the others and came gliding forward- and Azula's eyes widened as she made out its features.

The shape was a girl who looked a few years older than the princess, wrapped in a shimmering black cloak that perfectly matched the color of her hair. The girl's skin was unnaturally pale, and her eyes, when they turned towards Azula, were a deep violet. "Wei Ming," the princess breathed. "It isn't possible- I saw you die…" Studying her one-time nemesis more closely, however, she realized that there was something off about her- Wei Ming had seemed little more than the shadows that clustered around her, but she _had_ in truth been solid. The image of her seemed ragged around the edges, as though made out of mist, and it didn't quite reach the ground. She wasn't real, Azula realized- just an echo, a memory. A ghost.

Despite the fact that she had been the first to step forward, Wei Ming's image seemed hardly more aware of Azula than any of the surrounding shadows. She seemed lost within her own thought. Her lips were moving- like all the others, she was adding a whispered monologue to the whole ghostly chorus. Curiosity overcoming her, Azula stepped forward and leaned close to hear what she was saying.

"_Lost and alone, so much pain, make you pay, make them all pay, what a fool I was, couldn't let go, hurt so much, nothing left but pain and revenge and hate and HIM, and now there's nothing at all. Lost and alone…_"

Azula pulled back, horror and, against her will, pity washing over her as the image of Wei Ming drifted back into the shadows. What _was_ this place- some sort of gathering place for ghosts where they did nothing but relive the miseries of their mortal lives? And how exactly was this supposed to help her get back to her own world? Even in the unlikely event that one of the ghosts knew, it didn't seem the sort of thing that would come up in one's tormented reflections. Maybe this was just Roku's idea of a sick joke- it seemed somewhat out of character for the aged, dignified figure, but the Avatar's present incarnation at least was known for an offbeat sense of humor…

The princess was dragged from her speculations as more ghostly images emerged from the darkness.

First she saw Long Feng, dressed in the simple but elegant robes of the Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se. "_Too narrow, too insular, only looked to Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li, or myself, never really saw all the pieces on the board, until it was too late. Too narrow…_"

Pulling away from the earthbender's spectral face, Azula spun and found herself face to face with another shade- one that was startlingly familiar. She had never thought to see his image again after she rejected him in the caverns beneath Jian Chin's fortress, and yet he was here, who had once been the one living person for whom she would let herself feel love, or even respect. _Her father_…

But even Ozai didn't seem to register his daughter's presence, being fully immersed within his own torment- and he _did_ seem tormented, even more so than the others. Azula wondered why that was- was it that his own sins were simply greater, or was his pride simply suffering more from his current state of powerlessness? She couldn't know.

"_All the power in the universe, I should have ruled the world, why did it fail, I am not like other men, I am the Phoenix King, I should have destroyed the Avatar how did they do this to me? All the power in the universe…"_

Azula hadn't seen her father after his defeat- at first she had been in no condition to see _anyone_, and after she'd helped stop General Azun that was one of the privileges Zuko had denied her- but there was something about the pathetic ghost of the Phoenix King that she fond more horrible than any of the others. Her eyes followed him with horrified fascination as he faded back into the shadows, and then she turned away again to find herself facing a middle-aged man in a rich suit of armor. It was Azun himself- general of the Army of the Rising Flame and an ideologue who had supported the righteousness of the War a year after the Fire Nation's defeat.

"_Why couldn't they see we were right, the world needs us, the War was necessary, only the Fire Nation can bring peace and order, not the Avatar, he is just one man and he was led astray, he shouldn't have fought us. Why couldn't they see we were right…" _This shade seemed less tormented and more simply baffled, shaking his head as he wondered again and again how anyone could have denied the justice of his cause. Finally he too slipped into the shadows and was gone.

"My dead," Azula whispered, watching the place where the General had vanished thoughtfully. "I'm seeing those dead who impacted my life, starting with the most recent and going backwards. But that still doesn't answer what this place is- is it the afterlife, or is it just part of my mind?"

_"Both."_ Azula started and spun to face the voice's source- it had spoken directly to her, rather than to itself, and it held at once age, dignity, and terrible sadness. The speaker was an ancient, withered man in the robes of the Fire Lord, staring at her with the same golden intensity she herself turned on those she wished to intimidate. The princess's eyes widened as she took him in, and then she slowly sank to her knees. She was not a subservient or reverent person- hardly that!- but this man was the hero of her house and nation, the greatest of the Fire Lords.

"Sozin," she breathed.

"_Yes,_" the old man said bitterly. _"I was Sozin._ _Now I am an echo, nothing but smoke and memory._"

"So I take it I was sent here to receive your advice?" Azula asked. "It seems fitting, even if it is strange that Avatar Roku would entrust me to his greatest enemy. Still, you were the greatest of my line- what do you have to say to me?"

_"Greatest of your line?"_ Sozin shook his head. _"I was a fool, child, and I have paid the price for my foolishness. I thought I could tame the world, bring peace and order- and in doing so increase my own power, and ensure that I would be remembered for all time. I did so, and I found my dreams made hollow. I destroyed the one man I ever called friend- watched him reach out for me as death claimed him and I could have saved him- and then I destroyed a great people so he could not be reborn. I became the mightiest ruler in the world, but my life was empty, alone, joyless. I learned too late that even a king must pay a price for his power, and that for me the price was too high. And still I paid it anyway and watched my armies ravage the world, no longer caring enough to stop it. I fought the War because it was the one thing I had left."_ His golden eyes bored into hers. _"Speak not to me of greatness, child. I have seen it from the inside, and it is a rotten, hollow thing." _

"Then tell me this- if you are Sozin, how can you speak to me. Where are we?"

The ghost of Sozin turned and looked up into the shadows. _"This is… and in-between place. Not life, not death, a place of reflection. All come here when they die, to the Well of Time where past and future are one, to meditate on their actions before moving on. What lies beyond? I do not know. Are we reborn in the manner of the Avatar, do we pass on to some higher place, or are we consumed back into the primordial nothing from which all is made? I cannot tell you. I only know that while you are here you can see us, or reflections of us, if we were important to you in life."_

Another question burned in Azula's mind. "The others weren't aware of me at all- they seemed completely bound up in themselves. Why are you different?"

"_Because I am older- I have been here for more than half a century, and I have made my peace with myself, such as I can."_

"Then why haven't you left?"

_"Left?" _Sozin laughed bitterly again. _"Child, I am the destroyer of a Nation, slayer of an Avatar. I am the greatest criminal who ever lived, regardless of what young fools like you might think. This place… it is my penance." _

Penance… Azula thrust the disturbing notion away and focused on her immediate need. "I have to find my way back to the mortal world. Do you know how?"

_"No. I never heeded the spirits in life- perhaps if I had, things might have gone differently. I know nothing of the secrets you require."_ A strange look crossed the old Fire Lord's face. He almost seemed- sorry? "_I cannot help you, child."_

"Then this whole trip was a waste," Azula said angrily. "And Roku knew it."

Sozin's eyes flashed. _"Waste? I think not! This is the Well of Time- it shows many things. We, the dead, are of the past. Perhaps it is in the future you will find the answers you seek."_ His robes began to rustle, as if in a wind that Azula couldn't feel. "_The tides of this place are changing- and those beyond as well. Something moves in the world outside." _As his form began to break apart, the shade turned to go- but before he vanished completely, his voice echoed through the darkness a final time. _"Remember, child- it is too late for me, but you yet live. Do not destroy yourself, as I did. Make peace with yourself in the mortal world, and you need not endure these shadows." _

And then he was gone, and the voices of the past fell silent. Azula stood slowly, unable to shake off Sozin's words, as much as she wanted to. Clearly, the princess decided, this eerie darkness was starting to affect her reasoning. The ghosts were nothing but the shadows of the past- this was no longer their world. Perhaps she would consider their words more carefully later, but now she had one priority- getting out of this cavern, and out of the Spirit World.

Filled with renewed purpose, Azula stalked off into the darkness of the Well, determined to face her future.


	12. Chapter 11: Child of War

**Chapter 11: Child of War**

Azula walked through the darkness, her only company the sound of her own footfalls. She didn't know how long it had been since she'd left the spirits of the dead behind- assuming that time had any meaning at all in this place- but since then she had seen nothing in the shadows of the Well. The princess was beginning to wonder if she would be trapped here, unable to escape for all eternity, save by going mad again. But no- Sozin had said there was more to this place, and he should know if anyone did. Azula believed in him- she had to. The alternative wasn't something she cared to contemplate.

Suddenly light began to shimmer around the edges of her vision. The princess stopped and turned, trying to get a better look at them- she saw images within the lights, figures moving, though she couldn't make anything out for sure. These weren't like the dead, for they made no sound, and seemed at once more solid and more remote. If the dead had represented the past, Azula thought to herself, then these images must be the present- or the future.

The first image became solid and glided across the princess's field of vision, and she found herself facing a girl who looked very like herself- indeed, might have _been_ herself, if she weren't dressed in peasant clothes the real Azula wouldn't have been caught dead in. She seemed aware of the princess, and equally shocked by her appearance- she raised a hand tentatively and reached out, but before they could touch, she vanished.

"What was that?" Azula muttered to herself. "It certainly wasn't the present, and it couldn't have been the future- she didn't look any older than I am now!" Before she could consider the baffling apparition's nature further, however, another vision was drifting towards her. She saw a Fire Nation warship sailing across an arctic sea, and at the prow stood a figure who was unmistakably Azula, holding herself with regal, deadly grace, her clothing elegant but functional and her black hair styled. This was not, however, a scene the princess remembered from her own life, and her puzzlement deepened. Then her counterpart turned to face her, and she saw the scar that covered half her face. It was not the narrow, jagged knife-scar that Azula's own face now bore, but something much larger and… messier. A burn scar.

Zuko's scar.

Azula stumbled backward in shock as realization hit her. "These visions are not of the past or the future," she said softly. "They are things that I _might_ have been if my life had gone differently." The notion that she could have ended up with Zuzu's hopeless quest- or worse, been born a peasant- was disturbing, but fascinating at the same time.

The image of the banished princess wavered and faded away, replaced by the Fire Nation palace. A crowd gathered on its steps, all in mourning white, and a figure came forward who was obviously an older Azula. The princess was struck by this version's uncomfortable resemblance to her mother- down to the thin streaks of white beginning to show in otherwise jet-black hair- until the older self raised her eyes. They were empty, soulless, dead- the eyes of someone who had utterly disconnected herself from her humanity. No, Azula thought with a slight shiver, her older self wasn't really much like her mother at all. Still she continued watching as the image knelt on the palace steps and was crowned Fire Lord.

So this wasn't her own future, then, but another unrealized possibility. Zuko had allowed Azula her freedom after she helped defeat General Azun, but on the condition that she be written out of the royal succession. The only way for her to ascend to the throne now would be as head of a coup, and Zuko's friend the Avatar would never let that happen. No, if the shadow-Azula's age and the mourning garments were anything to go by, this version was ascending to the throne after the death of her timeline's Ozai.

This vision faded away as well, leaving only darkness behind. Azula snarled in frustration- was that all that she was going to see here? It had been at once fascinating and unnerving, but hardly _useful_. Snarling again, she turned and began to walk once more, stopping suddenly as light flared in front of her again.

This light flickered back and forth between dozens of colors, all of them intense, but the two most prominent were red and blue. Slowly it resolved itself into the image of a throne, and on it sat a figure that Azula recognized as herself, but only barely. The red light was shining from her flesh, waves of heat rising from it and making the air shimmer, while her hair and eyes burned with the intense blue- the same blue of her firebending. The apparition stood, carrying herself with an easy, deadly grace that even the real Azula couldn't have managed, and the vision pulled away from her to reveal a burned and blasted landscape that stretched as far as the eye could see. A great army stood there, and as the terrible, beautiful goddess-Azula approached, they knelt before her and saluted with their weapons.

The vision faded, consumed by flames, and a human silhouette appeared in their midst. Something about the figure was vaguely familiar, though Azula couldn't place it- the flames kept her from making out any specific features, apart from its eyes, which glowed brightly as they cycled through colors. It turned those eyes towards her, and she sensed that it smiled. "_Poor, lost Azula,_" it said in a voice that sounded almost genuinely concerned. "_How far you have fallen- but this is not the end."_

"I know that voice," Azula said. "You're the spirit who used Azun and Wei Ming- Roku called you Zhan Zheng."

The shadowed head inclined. "_You are perceptive as ever, my child_," it said.

"I am no child of yours," Azula hissed.

"_Indeed? Though perhaps you are right- child is not the best way to describe who you are connected to me."_ The spirit seemed to consider this. "_Cousin, perhaps? For we both owe our existence to one man- your ancestor, Sozin. You are born of his bloodline, and I… I was born of his actions. Yes, I am bound to your family in ways you cannot yet imagine, but to you most of all. None of your family since Sozin himself have truly embodied those qualities I admire, save yourself alone_."

"You have no power of me, spirit," she said. "I rejected you once, and will do so again and again if I have to. Crawl back to Jian Chin, or whoever your current puppet is. I've heard enough."

The glowing eyes widened. _"Really? You see, even now you show that you are of me- just look how you struggle, resist, fight! Your father fought for glory… your brother for honor… but you, you fight for the thrill of victory, the knowledge that you can overcome any foe. Remember your words to the Guardian of the Well- you live for conflict, and I… I _am _conflict."_ It stretched out one shadowed hand and stroked Azula's hair. _"You are lost and fallen, but come with me, and I shall give you victory again!" _

The princess slapped the hand away and pulled out of its reach. "You're wasting your time. You say that you're the embodiment of war? The War is over. The world has no more place for the likes of you or me. I've learned that I must adapt or be destroyed. Maybe you should learn the same lesson."

_"Over? My dear Azula, the War is never _over!"Zhan Zheng seemed to chuckle darkly, though it made no sound. _"I thought you knew human nature better than that! Know this- I know the last vision you saw, and it is no mere possibility, but rather prophecy. You will come to me before this is over, and of your own free will deliver the world into my hands._" The spirit's head inclined again in a respectful bow. _"Until then, princess. I will be watching you."_ The flames flickered, and Zhan Zheng was gone.

Azula watched him go, feeling helpless in a way she rarely did and deciding she didn't like it one bit. Even if she had her firebending, what could one do to hurt a spirit in its own world? And even then, it was possible that Zhan Zheng had never really been there at all, but had merely tapped into the Well's power in some way to appear to the princess. Human wars and politics were games that Azula could play- she knew the rules of both, and how to exploit them to get what she wanted. Fighting a spirit, she felt like a lemur pitted against a Pai Sho master- however clever the creature might be, it couldn't win a game it had no way to understand.

"What good are you!" Azula shouted to the Well at large, unable to contain her frustration any longer. "You are supposed to contain knowledge, but you've given me nothing valuable so far, just confusing visions. Why haven't you done what Roku said you would and shown me what I need to know?"

BECAUSE YOU DID NOT ASK.

The voice was huge and echoed in Azula's mind, driving her to her knees with hands around her ears. At once she felt the air around her shift and some ancient, mighty will orienting itself to focus on her. Then wave after wave of images pounded into her skull, and she knew no more.

############

Jian Chin sat up from his bed as he felt the spirit return completely to his body. "Where were you?" he demanded. "I thought you promised to see this through with me at least until I had the Earth King's throne!"

"_I merely had… conversation… with an old friend."_ Zhan Zheng seemed quite pleased with itself. "_As you were still recovering from our battle with the Avatar, I did not feel I would be missed if I left for a short while."_

"Well, you're back now," Jian Chin rumbled. "I suppose I can't threaten you into obedience like you were human, but I will say this- leave me like that again, and I promise I'll find a way to make you hurt."

_"It will not happen again,"_ the spirit said, sounding almost contrite.

"So, did your "conversation" go well?" Jian Chin asked the question out of simple politeness- he was not normally a man who cared for such things, but he did think it best to humor the creature who was the source of his newfound powers.

_"Indeed. The final piece is now locked into place. We must hasten to Ba Sing Se at once. It is there that destiny shall converge, and my ultimate victory will be assured!" _

Jian Chin smiled fiercely and then rolled back over, determined to get at least some sleep before marching the army forward again tomorrow. It wasn't until he was drifting off that he considered the implications of Zhan Zheng's words.

My victory, it had said. Mine. Not ours.

Suddenly Jian Chin found himself afraid.

############

Azula came awake slowly to find herself kneeling on the barren ground in front of the Well of Time. Her head was still pounding as she tried to sort through the information that had just be blasted into it, and she pulled herself up into a sitting position while working through the process. The monkey Guardian sat nearby, still meditating. He opened one eye, taking note of her presence, and then closed it again, apparently deciding that people who came out of the well were not his concern.

Searching through her memories, Azula realized that the spirit of the Well had implanted her mind with images of dozens of people who had been trapped in the Spirit World, including her own Uncle Iroh. She quickly realized, however, that these people all had one thing in common that she did not share- they had come here _physically._ The only ones who entered the Spirit World separate from their bodies were the Avatars, and they were special cases. If anyone else had come here like Azula had, either they had never attracted the Well's attention, or had never found a solution to their problem.

"No!" Azula shouted, falling forward and clutching her head. She wouldn't be trapped here forever, she couldn't be! But then another image surfaced, one the Well seemed to have saved for last- a twisted tree, and a cave, and an ancient being who waited within. The Well knew much, but there were some things beyond even its awareness, and it was not the only spirit that had accumulated great wisdom over the millennia. There remained one more for Azula to ask, and this being could well save her.

If she survived the encounter.


	13. Chapter 12: The Dragon Returns

**Chapter 12: The Dragon Returns**

Ty Lee poked her head through the door of the small inn and took in its patrons with a quick glance. They were a small, subdued group- this village was rather out of the way, after all, and just barely within the borders of the Earth Kingdom proper- but on the whole they seemed like much better company than the people who had frequented the taverns near Jian Chin's domain. This inn certainly smelled better. Opening the door completely, the acrobat walked inside.

She walked up to the bar, behind which stood a man who looked like he'd never been cheerful once in his life. "Hi," Ty Lee said, resting her arms on the wooden counter and smiling widely up at him. "Do you have any rooms open?"

The innkeeper sized her up for a moment. "That depends," he said. "You got any money?"

"Right here." Ty Lee pulled a pouch from her belt and opened it. "How much for… erm… two rooms?"

"Two?" the innkeeper asked suspiciously. "There's only _one_ of you that I see, girl."

"Oh, I've got some friends coming," she said. "So- how much do you want?" The innkeeper named his price and Ty Lee counted it out. That done, she jumped up and hurried towards the door, waving cheerily back at him as she left (really, he did need to brighten up). Once outside, she made her way to the edge of the village where her companions waited. Captain Shin stood beside his men, who had the motionless form of Azula on a stretcher between them. Ursa stood off to one side, staring off into the distance. All four looked up as Ty Lee approached.

"Were you able to find us a place to stay in the town?" Shin asked.

Ty Lee nodded. "Yeah- I got us a couple of rooms in the inn. It'll be nice to sleep in a bed again. Follow me!"

They were an odd-looking procession as they made their way through the village- Ursa and Ty Lee both wore Earth Kingdom clothes, and the soldiers had hidden their armor outside of town, but Shin and his men still couldn't conceal their military bearing, and certainly not the unconscious Azula they still carried on a stretcher. When they reached the inn, the innkeeper took one look at them and both of his eyebrows shot up remarkably high on his forehead.

"See!" Ty Lee said cheerily. "Told you we needed two rooms!"

The innkeeper studied them all intently, focusing on Azula last and longest. "What's wrong with her?" he asked. "If it's something catching, you can have your money back- you're not staying here."

"My daughter's illness is her own," Ursa said, her tone calm yet commanding. "It is no threat to you."

"You'll swear to that?"

"By Ag- by the spirits," Ursa corrected herself. The innkeeper seemed satisfied by that, though not particularly happy. Grumbling under his breath, he called for a boy in his early teens, two whom he handed a ring of keys. The boy led the travelers upstairs, and without speaking unlocked a pair of doors for them. Ty Lee, Ursa, and the comatose Azula took one room; the soldiers took the other.

Ursa lifted her daughter off the stretcher and carefully bore her into the room, laying her gently on the bed. The noblewoman looked down at her and sighed, then sat down on the bed across the room. Ty Lee sat down next to her. "You seem kinda down," the acrobat said. "Is something wrong? "

"Apart from my daughter being in a coma and everywhere we go being full of rumors that Jian Chin is alive and on the march?" Ursa allowed herself a faint, bitter smile. "Yes, there is. I've been away from the Fire Nation for years, Ty Lee, and the world has changed completely. When I last saw my husband, he was poised on the edge of his greatest victory- now he is dead. When I last saw Zuko, he was a child who needed my protection- now he is a king and the savior of his people. When I last saw Azula…" she didn't finish that thought.

"It'll be okay," Ty Lee told her. "People get worked up about serious things all the time, but I think that's all a bit silly. Just hope for the best, and it'll happen- and even if it doesn't, there'll still be something good in whatever does."

Ursa shook her head. "I wish it were that simple for me, Ty Lee, but it's not. You've known Azula and Zuko- you know how our family is haunted by the shadow of past misdeeds. I don't think we can just wish our troubles away." Ty Lee looked and felt uncomfortable- she wanted to help, but didn't know what to say to the older woman that would do that. Finally Ursa sighed and stood, walking over to stand over Azula again.

"Azula carries the weight of the past more than any of us," she said quietly. "I don't know how much of what she became was what Ozai made of her, and how much was her own nature. But I remember that even when she was a child there were times when she was strange, alien- dangerous. I didn't know how to talk to her then, and I'm afraid I don't now." She hung her head. "Part of me knows she has changed- she wouldn't have come after me otherwise- but I still remember that child who parroted Ozai even though she understood all too well what he was. How can I move past that? How can she?"

"I think there's good in her," Ty Lee said. "Deep down, but it's there. I think she was different after she fought Wei Ming, too. Something happened down there that changed her. But then, Mai always says I'm too soft on people, so…"

"I think you're right," Ursa said. "I hope so- for all our sakes." She looked down at Azula's blank face again. "But especially hers."

#############

The 52nd Earth King sat on the great throne in his hall of audience, doing his best to keep calm. Bosco, the exotic pet bear who had been the King's constant companion for several years now, seemed to sense his master's agitation- he placed his large, fluffy head on his lap and rumbled deeply in the back of his throat. The King stroked the bear's fur absently as he waited for General How to make his report.

Despite his title and bloodline, and the fact that he had come to the throne as a child, the Earth King had only been a true ruler for about a year and a half- for most of his life, the Kingdom had been controlled by the capable but completely amoral Grand Secretariat, Long Feng, and mere days after he had been deposed the Fire Nation had seized Ba Sing Se, The King had spent the next several months wandering- under his little-known given name, Kuei- with only Bosco for company, returning to claim his throne only after it had been won back for him by the Order of the White Lotus. He was hardly alone in his predicament- Fire Lord Zuko hadn't held his position for any longer, after all- but it was still difficult to help a nation adjust from a century-long war to peace when one was still learning the ropes oneself. He was eternally thankful that both Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe and King Bumi of Omashu were more experienced leaders he could write for advice if he needed it (Bumi's advice in particular tended to be excellent, though it could take as much as a day to make heads or tails of what he was actually saying).

The King was jerked from his thoughts when the massive doors of the audience hall swept majestically open and General How entered the room, trailed by a younger man in a soldier's uniform. Like the rest of the loyal generals, How had been imprisoned by the Dai Li during the Fire Nation coup- he had suffered at their hands, but having been deemed too important to execute outright, he had made a recovery after being released, though there was now much more grey in his hair and beard. Approaching the throne, he and his companion knelt. "Your Majesty," the general intoned, "may the Earth ever support the foundations of your rule."

"You wanted to see me, General?" the King asked. "Your message sounded urgent."

"It is," How said. Rising, he motioned to the boy at his side. "This young man is one a messenger from one of our outlying forts. Tell His Majesty what you told me, son."

"My… my King," the messenger stammered, "our fortress has been destroyed!"

"Destroyed?" the Earth King asked in amazement, and even Bosco lifted his head and growled. "What happened?"

"An army came against us, sire. There weren't many more than a thousand of them, and we thought we could hold them. We were wrong." The messenger's eyes were haunted. "There was a man- if you could call him a man; he was huge, with glowing eyes and skin like stone. He smashed through our defenses almost singlehandedly, reducing the fortress to rubble. His earthbending- it was like nothing I'd ever seen before." He stopped, seemingly unable to go on.

"There's more, Your Majesty," General How said. "This boy got away just before the fortress went down- the enemy let him go, to carry us this warning, only the latest of a series of disturbing rumors that have reached my ears. He said they were marching in a straight line, and the fortress just happened to be in the way. If they keep following the line, they'll be here in less than two weeks."

The Earth King put his head in his hands. "I thought we had our Kingdom back on the right track, and now this! How do we fight someone who could destroy a stone stronghold just because it was in his way? I almost wish Long Feng was here- he'd have some comforting explanation for it." The King realized what he was saying and shook himself. "No- Long Feng was good at burying problems, but not at solving them. This is my city- I've been its king almost all my life; it's time I started acting the part. We will fight." He held himself tall in his throne, trying to look as noble as a man with a concerned bear pawing at him could.

General How nodded approvingly. "Then we will fight, Your Majesty. But I do share your concerns. There are… rumors, though I don't credit them, that say that this warlord, this Jian Chin, as he calls himself, felled even the Avatar in battle. We'll need something special if we're to defeat him."

"Jian Chin." The King repeated the name, remembering old stories of the ancient conqueror who bore a similar name and fell to Avatar Kyoshi. Suddenly inspiration hit him in a flash. "I have it! This Jian Chin person names himself after a legend. But we have a legend on our side."

The General looked blankly for a moment, then his eyes widened in comprehension. "Yes. I shall send for him at once, Your Majesty." Turning sharply, How left the audience chamber, the messenger trailing behind him.

#############

After the many years of his long life, Iroh of the Fire Nation had at last found peace. He had been many things during his time- prince, general, advisor and guardian to a hotheaded nephew he had helped turn into a great leader, and head of the Order of the White Lotus. After all that he had done, though, the old man found that there were few pleasures (save perhaps for a good game of Pai Sho with a skilled opponent) that equaled brewing, tasting, and sharing his beloved teas.

The Jasmine Dragon tea shop was packed, as was usual at this time in the afternoon. Off-duty government officials, families, and young couples could all be found at various tables, enjoying the tea and the atmosphere provided by a man who had become a legend in his own life time- the Fire Nation war hero who had saved Ba Sing Se. Iroh enjoyed his work and his customers, making sure he could put a name to all the recurring faces; that contributed to the Jasmine Dragon's success as much as the tea itself. He was standing near the back of the shop, taking the orders from one of his servers and making sure he had enough to satisfy everyone, when a man in an official uniform entered the shop and made straight for him.

"You are Iroh, once called the Dragon of the West?" the man asked.

"I was, though now I'm more the Dragon of the Tea Shop," Iroh said. "You should sit down, have some tea, and tell me why you need to see me."

"I don't have time. And it isn't me who needs to see you." He removed a scroll from his belt and handed it to Iroh. "I'm just the messenger."

The old general read the message several times through, digesting its contents. Sighing, he looked down at the floor of the shop, lost in memory. Finally, he looked back up at the messenger. "Tell the Earth King," Iroh said in a solemn voice that seemed natural on him, even though it was utterly unlike his usual tone, "that I am at his command."


	14. Chapter 13: The Old One

**Chapter 13: The Old One**

Azula passed out of the forest again, following directions from the images that the Well of Time had implanted in her mind. Pausing, she took in her surroundings, reflecting that they seemed the strangest yet in this otherworldly place. Before her, the land seemed to fall away into a mist-filled abyss within which she could see strange shapes moving about. Immediately in front of Azula, however, was a path that lead up to a ridge where an ancient, barren tree brooded above the dark entrance of a cavern. The whole place seemed somehow alive, and yet… dormant. Waiting.

The princess shook herself. Before today she had rarely felt fear and almost never shown it; she had no intention of starting now, particularly if the legends regarding this particular spirit being were true. They said that to show it any emotion at all would be enough to allow it to have power over you, which it would use to inflict a fate that made death seem kind in comparison. But Azula needed the thing's ancient wisdom, and she did not intend to allow it the satisfaction of a new victim.

She approached the cave entrance cautiously, with every aspect of her being on high alert and her expression carefully neutral. Up close, a feeling of patient malevolence flowed from the lair, older and far more terrible than anything Azula had ever before imagined. Compared with the thing that waited inside, the monster Zhan Zheng was a child and the last four generations of the Fire Royal House paled into insignificance. Azula allowed herself a shudder, but quickly mastered herself and plunged headlong into the darkness.

It was dark within the cavern, but not as pitch as the interior of the Well of Time- Azula could still make out the rough stone walls of her surroundings and the tree roots that forced their way down through them. There was no sign, however, of the spirit that made its home here. The princess's eyes darted around, but she could not see any place for the being to hide, save further along the tunnel. To her ears, however, it gradually became apparent that there was _sound_ here- a strange rustling that came from above. After several minutes of listening to it, Azula decided she had to either speak or let it drive her mad. "Where are you?" she demanded.

"Here," a soft voice that seemed composed of many others said from behind her. Azula spun to face the sound, and only years of intense discipline kept her from gasping in horror at what she saw. A face hovered before her, blue and demonic, with glowing eyes and protruding fangs. Far worse, however, was the body to which the face was attached- like some disproportionate inset, with an elongated body and innumerable spindly legs that were the source of the rustling sound. "Welcome, child," the thing hissed.

"You must be Koh, the Face Stealer," Azula said in a carefully neutral tone. "I must admit, your reputation does not do you justice."

"Indeed?" Koh said, and its front portion seemed to _blink_, replacing the demon-face with one that resembled an androgynous clown. The creature scuttled forward, wrapping its body around Azula's- though it did not quite touch- turning its front segment so that its stolen face remained inches from the princess's own. The Face Stealer was an utterly alien creature, she found herself thinking, and yet there seemed a strange sort of logic to it, apart from both the mortal and spirit worlds. All of the other spirits Azula had met were reflections of something that existed in her own world- but what was Koh? Some ancient nightmare given flesh by the strange magic of this place, or something from another reality entirely that had found refuge here?

"But I sense that you did not come here merely to gaze upon me," the spirit purred in its strange voice, pulling Azula back to the present. "So few come to see me any longer. Tell me what you seek."

"I am trapped here, separated from my body," Azula explained. "I was told that you possessed the knowledge necessary to return me to my own world."

Koh's face shifted again, becoming that of an oversized predatory bird that regarded her with a predatory stare the equal of her own. "And how," it said, "is this any concern of mine?"

The princess's temper nearly exploded at that comment, but she caught herself just in time. _That's what it wants_, she reminded herself. _It wants me to lose control so it can take me, and then scare its next visitor by wearing _my _face. Well, it won't ensnare me so easily._ "It is your concern," she said aloud, "because there is a spirit named Zhan Zheng who is threatening both the mortal and spirit worlds, and I have been told that I am the key to defeating him. Though I suppose you don't care about that- after all, why should one evil spirit be upset by the actions of another?"

"Evil?" Koh's face became a mask that wore an exaggerate frown. "I am not evil, child. I _am_. Do not attempt to label me; you are not prepared for the challenge. Though I do find it rather… ironic that one such as yourself should toss about such a word so lightly. Isn't that right, Princess of the Fire Nation?"

"You know who I am?" Azula asked, careful not to let her surprise show. The Face stealer chuckled darkly.

"I am aware of much that passes in the world beyond," it said. "That is why there are always those who seek me out, even knowing the danger I pose. Some were clever and walked away again." The face shifted to that of a beautiful woman with long flowing hair and dark eyes. "Others remained behind as part of my… collection. But as for your first question- I have no desire to see this world to end, even to settle my personal grudge with the Avatar. Indeed, I love the world, after my own fashion- for what am I if not a predator? All predators require prey."

"Then you will tell me what I need to know?" the princess pressed.

Koh seemed to chuckle again, coils rustling as they circled slowly around Azula. "Yes. You believe that your body and soul were separated by your coming to this reality. That is not correct- if they had separated completely, you would now be dead. A connection remains between the two halves of your being. It is week, but it is there. You must follow the connection back to its source, there to rejoin your body and live again. Otherwise, you will remain forever as you are now- your spirit trapped here, your body in limbo there, with no escape."

"And how do I follow the connection back?" Azula asked.

The Face Stealer's huge body shifted, its front continually turning so that its face remained facing the princess's. "How? You already know the answer to that, child- search for it within yourself. I _could_ tell you, but I am not so generous that I willingly give knowledge you might discover for yourself. Indeed, you already owe me a face for the services I have rendered." Its front snapped shut again, opening to reveal a brutal, bearded man's face.

Azula slowly backed away, careful not to trip over Koh's coils and wishing more than ever that she had her firebending. "You cannot take me," she said. "I know the stories- you cannot steal a face that has not shown emotion, and I am not foolish enough to give you the opportunity."

"If I so wished, child, I could _make_ you show emotion, and you would not find the experience pleasant." The stolen face darted forward, so that it was once again inches from Azula's own. "But for now it is in my interest to let you go, unless you are foolish enough to give me an opportunity. I did not say that I wanted _your___face, just that you owe me _a_ face. You will know when the time comes for me to collect!"

"I'll be going, then," the princess said, backing towards the cave entrance, Koh adjusting its coils to allow her passage. She still made certain to keep gaze fixed on it, however- regardless of its words, she knew it would be foolish to trust this inhuman thing. Just as she was almost at the entrance, it spoke again.

"You go now to battle against the enemy of the balance itself," the spirit said, "and yet you are not prepared for that contest. You are held as powerful, for a mortal, and yet nothing you can do can harm the spirit of war."

"Then why are you telling me this?" Azula asked. "You just said you don't want Zhan Zheng to win, and in any event gloating doesn't become you. It's far too- mundane."

The spirit's face shifted one last time, becoming again the strange clown- somehow the most nightmarish of all, when paired with that terrible body. "The great spirits are but incarnations of ideas," it hissed, and Azula couldn't help but notice that it seemed to consider those spirits as somehow different from itself, "and so therefore you must think on this- how would you destroy an idea? Discover that, and even Zhan Zheng must fall." Koh began to withdraw back into the darkness, leaving only its face visible. Azula backed up the tunnel, emerging into the light of the Spirit World's surface. As she did so, she could hear the nightmare voice hiss one final time.

"Oh, and when you see the Avatar, will you give him my regards?"

#############

Xang stood on the rocky ridge that had once housed an Earth Kingdom fortress, looking towards the northwest and his master's destination. Ba Sing Se, City of Walls, ancient heart of the Earth Kingdom- soon it would be theirs. He had doubted before that Jian Chin could accomplish his conquest- for all his power, his army was small and poorly trained, and the city he sought to take had repulsed one of the great generals of the age, falling only to treachery from within. After the battle with the Avatar and the destruction of this fortress, however, all doubt had been crushed from Xang's mind. Jian Chin had laid low the most powerful being in the world, and then shattered a castle with his earthbending singlehandedly, crushing most of the soldiers and terrifying the rest into surrendering. It seemed now like there was nothing he could not do, if he put his mind to it.

A strange emotion blanketed all of Xang's thoughts at this realization- a dark combination of awe, fear, and despair.

Beside him, Jian Chin stirred. "Soon it will be mine," he rumbled, looking off into the distance. "I have dreamed of that day all my life, and now it is almost at hand. Then my glory will eclipse even that of the man for whom I am named! All my enemies shall gather then, and I shall crush them all- even the Avatar."

"Is the Avatar not already dead, then?" Xang asked.

Jian Chin shook his head. "He lives- I feel it in my bones. But when we next meet, he will be destroyed utterly." There was an air of finality in his voice.

"And the waterbender girl, she will be with him?" a voice asked from behind them. The warlord and his second turned to find Ilook standing there, his eyes alight with some twisted desire.

"If the stories are true, she and the Avatar are inseparable," Xang said. "I would assume she would be with him."

"Yes," Ilook breathed. "When I still lived in the Northern Water Tribe, girls were not allowed to fight with bending- only to heal. She, however, was truly powerful, and I want to know where and how she learned it." The mad light in his eyes brightened. "I will make her tell me."

Xang suppressed a shudder. Somehow he doubted that whatever twisted fantasies were playing out in the madman's mind were remotely like what an ordinary person would think about a pretty girl, and he had no intention of delving deeper into the matter. Jian Chin, however, simply nodded. "The girl is yours after the Avatar falls, if that is your wish," he said. "Now then, leave us in peace." Ilook nodded and withdrew, his predatory grin still fixed on his face.

"Do you think it is wise, to encourage him like that?" Xang asked carefully when the waterbender was gone.

"He will serve me so long as I dangle bait before him," the warlord said. "And we may have need of his powers before the end." He turned again to look towards the north. "And that end is not long in coming, my old friend. Not long at all."

#############

Azula collapsed to the ground some distance from the Face Stealer's cave, letting the tension from that encounter flow out of her. After several moments of rest she sat back up and mentally reviewed its words. The clue about how to kill a spirit could wait until later- now the important thing was returning to her body. Koh had said that she already knew the way back- she just needed to find it within herself. Typical spirit nonsense, the sort of thing her overly-sentimental uncle was constantly saying. Still, it was her last chance- she wasn't about to go back and ask Koh where to find another font of Spirit World wisdom. She needed to try.

Seating herself carefully, Azula focused her mind as she did when meditating before firebending practice. Rather than focusing her will completely upon the flame, however, she allowed the focus to become herself- her body, her life, her history. Images flashed before her mind- childhood in the royal court, favored child of a Prince who became Fire Lord; her brother's banishment leaving her sole heir; her chase across the Earth Kingdom for Zuko and the Avatar; the conquest of Ba Sing Se. Beyond that point lay things the princess did not want to consider, but they were part of her nonetheless, and so she opened herself to them. Zuko's betrayal, followed by Mai and Ty Lee's; her own loss of control and subsequent descent into madness, her defeat at the hands of her brother and the waterbender Katara, the lost year spent in the healing institute.

From there her recollections passed to recent events- Azun's rebellion and her role in his defeat; the peasant siblings Ling and Joti, who saved her from the general's men and helped her find herself; the desperate search for her mother; shadowed, terrible Wei Ming who had been so small and pitiful in death; and the waterbender Ilook whose attack had sent her hear. Finally, the Spirit World itself. All Azula's life, joined together as one, good and ill together.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open; something was tugging towards her left. Azula jumped to her feet and focused on that pull; she had never felt anything quite like it, but was certain it could be only one thing- the path she must follow to reconnect with her body. At last, she could go home, armed with a clue that could defeat her enemy, if only she could figure out how to use it.

Azula turned and ran across the Spirit World, following the pull that would lead her to herself.


	15. Chapter 14: Storm Clouds

**Chapter 14: Storm Clouds**

Iroh gave a respectful bow as he approached the throne of the Earth King- not as deep as that which General How had just performed, for he was still a citizen of the Fire Nation and uncle of its reigning monarch, but deep enough to show honor to the King and his authority. The young ruler studied Iroh in fascination, wearing exactly the same expression he did on the occasions when the old man came to deliver his tea to the palace, though with the addition of a raised eyebrow over his attire. Having come directly from the Jasmine Dragon, the retired general still wore his manager's uniform.

"Are you going to lead the defense of Ba Sing Se in that?" the King asked in an interested tone. "It seems rather unconventional, but I must admit you have much more experience than I do in these matters."

Iroh smiled and laughed. "I will if you want me to, but it wasn't really what I had in mind. I did not think General How would appreciate it if I showed up in his war room wearing my old Fire Nation uniform- if I even still fit in it!" Still grinning, he slapped his belly, which had begun to put on weight again since the end of the War, when he'd slimmed down considerably.

The King smiled as well, and glanced at the stone-faced How. "I think you're probably very right. If you don't mind, I'll have the palace tailors make an Earth Kingdom uniform for you."

"That would be fine." Iroh's good humor did not vanish, but his eyes took on a more serious cast. "Now then, your letter only said that you needed my help to save Ba Sing Se from destruction. I would like to know what is happening."

"General How?" the Earth King said, motioning for his senior commander to step forward. He outlined the same situation to Iroh that he had to the King just a few hours ago- that an army was coming to conquer the city, lead by an unnaturally powerful earthbender who could level fortresses singlehandedly. Iroh's expression became increasingly grave as he listened.

"And so," the King said when How had finished, "we felt that, all things considered, we needed the best general we could find in command of our forces. And even the Council of Five admits that would be you. Now that you know what you'll be up against, are you still willing to help us?" From beside the throne Bosco, who had fallen asleep some time ago, shook himself and raised his head, regarding the Dragon of the West with the same questioning look as his master.

"I am," Iroh told him. "Ba Sing Se is my home now, too, and if it is threatened I will fight to defend it. But I will warn you- no matter what you might have heard about me, I am just a man; there is only so much that I can do against a spirit."

"Spirit?" The Earth King asked in a whisper. "Is that what you think we're up against?"

Iroh nodded. "It is what makes the most sense to me. General How says that this Jian Chin is powerful enough to destroy entire fortresses and armies by himself- no single bender is that powerful, except perhaps for a master firebender beneath Sozin's Comet. I think that something must be feeding Jian Chin power, and the only thing I know of that could do that is a spirit- a _very powerful_ spirit."

"A spirit," the King sighed, and hung his head. Sensing his master's distress, Bosco _whuffed_ and put his head in his lap; Kuei patted it absently. "Then there is no hope of victory."

"I didn't say that!" Iroh said, holding up his hands. "I said I could only do so much, not nothing. I've still got a few tricks that might come in handy. Take me to your war room, General How. It seems the Dragon of the West must prepare for one last battle."

Though he knew that at least some of the old man's burst of enthusiasm was for his benefit, the Earth King couldn't help but feel heartened as Iroh left for the war room with an arm around How's shoulders, asking the other general about the positions of his troops, weak points in the inner fortifications, and if he had anyone on staff who could offer a good, sporting game of Pai Sho…

#############

Toph Bei Fong felt the vibration in the stone beneath her feet moments before the attack itself actually came. Twisting aside, she lightly avoided the trench that cut through the ground where she had been standing and traced the vibrations back to their source. Smirking, she sent a boulder flying in that direction and was rewarded by hearing her opponent curse loudly as he barely managed to dodge. Any earthbender could sense vibrations in the rock around them, a trick that Toph had learned at an early age to compensate for her blindness and later give her an incredible fighting edge; few took the time and effort to do so. Their loss.

The blind earthbender shifted slightly as she felt the earth tear near the edge of the arena as one of her other opponents (she had taken to fighting four at once in the hopes it would make things interesting; so far, it hadn't) prepared to hurl a boulder back at her. That was more difficult to deal with than a ground attack, but not by much- Toph had quickly figured out at her first tournament how to judge precisely where a projectile was being fired and how big it was based on the stance of the earthbender performing the move. It wasn't difficult at all to avoid being hit and then shake the ground under the attacker's feet, sending him flying from his precarious position and off into the trench around the ring. This wasn't the arena where she'd been champion several years in a row when she was a kid (technically she was still a kid, but fourteen definitely _felt_ a lot older than twelve), but she'd found that most earthbending arenas were built around the same basic design.

Toph could feel her three remaining opponents circling her; clearly the felt that if they took her from different directions at once they would confuse her senses and leave her unable to react. She decided that she really needed to show them just how wrong they were; all it took was some simple hand motions to pull stone walls from the arena floor and use them to herd the opposition together, and then a twist of one foot to hurl all three to join their buddy in the trench.

The crowd went wild.

Sensing the arena master approach, Toph held out her hand and accepted the prize money. She didn't really need it, at least not to spend, but it was always satisfying to get a reminder of her wins. It would have been even more satisfying if her opponents hadn't been complete pushovers. She listened to the arena master as he promised the crowd a thrilling lineup for the same time next week, and then left the stadium and made her way outside.

She stopped when she heard the sound of someone clapping behind her. That in and of itself wasn't unusual, but she thought she recognized this particular person's rhythm. "Twinkletoes?" she asked, spinning toward the sound. "Is that you?"

"Sure is," a familiar voice said. Now that she stopped to listen, Toph could distinguish from the crowd the familiar sound of Aang's light footsteps, and Katara's beside him. "That was some great bending back in there- the Blind Bandit wins again!"

"And don't you forget it," Toph said, hitting Aang on the shoulder. "Gotta keep my edge up somehow when there aren't any crazy firebenders running around anymore." She frowned. "But honestly, I'd take the Fire Lord over some of these people- seriously, I think _the Hippo_ had better skills than a lot of them. I thought with old Bumi in charge Omashu'd have a better crop of benders; boy was that a mistake."

She heard a chuckle that sounded like Katara. "I thought you _liked_ winning all the time?"

"I do!" Toph said indignantly, "but this is just getting boring. Guess being the best earthbender in the world has its downside, eh?" Immediately, both Aang and Katara quieted, and Toph knew that something was up. "All right- what'd I say?"

"Well… for one thing, you're not the best earthbender in the world anymore," Aang began, but Toph cut him off.

"All right- who is this guy? I want a name- I've got something to settle with him."

"That probably wouldn't word," Aang told her. He then launched into an explanation of this guy named Jian Chin who wanted to take over the world, something about spirits that didn't make a whole lot of sense but sounded ominous, an army marching towards Ba Sing Se, and how he wanted to get the old group back together to deal with it.

"So you're saying that this Jian Chin guy thinks he's the greatest earthbender in the world because he made a deal with a spirit? That's cheating." Toph shook her head. "He is _so_ going down."

"So you're with us?" Katara asked.

"You betcha I am," Toph said. "Let's get going."

"It's good to have you back, Toph," Aang said as they headed off towards wherever he'd left Appa. A short time later, the Blind Bandit, earthbending champion, was feeling decidedly queasy, remembering exactly why she hated flying, and almost wishing she'd stayed behind.

But only almost.

#############

Jian Chin's forces encountered little resistance as they marched on towards the heart of the Earth Kingdom. True, they encountered some patrols, but the warlord dealt with them easily enough. Most he was simply able to terrorize into fleeing by demonstrations of his vast power; those who remained were simply crushed beneath it. The army's pace did not slow.

Finally one morning he crested a hill and found himself staring down at a vast stone wall, and beyond it a city that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon. The army stood at his back; on his right hand was Xang, and on his left Ilook. The warlord's second was scanning the defenses carefully, taking note of their structure and organization. The waterbender held himself with barely restrained glee at finally being able to unleash his powers in battle once again.

"My city," Jian Chin rumbled beneath his breath. "My capital." A dark joy welled up within him, partly his own and partly Zhan Zheng's. However different their end goals might be, for now both man and spirit were in harmony, bent completely towards a single objective.

Conquest.

#############

Iroh had not been idle in the two weeks since the Earth King had given him command of the defense of Ba Sing Se. Though careful not to trip on any of the other generals' toes, he had analyzed the city's defenses and merely confirmed what he already knew- it's chief advantage came from having a great deal of two things, men and organization. The great walls would be a third advantage against any normal invader, but Iroh himself had been able to break through them when empowered by Sozin's Comet; he didn't think they would hold long against the superhumanly powerful earthbender Jian Chin was confirmed to be with each new report.

It would be easy to meet force with force; Jian Chin would only be able to attack one point at a time, after all, so soldiers could simply be hurled at him endlessly until he and his army broke. Iroh, however, didn't like that idea- something told him that in this situation, meeting force with force would be useless. Against such a foe, trickery would serve far better, and Iroh had spent years as a friend and correspondent of one of the world's great tricksters, King Bumi of Omashu. He thought he'd picked up enough to make quite a headache for Jian Chin, whatever or whoever he turned out to be.

He was sitting with General How, drinking his morning tea and playing Pai Sho as they discussed new possible strategies for both the game and the defense of the city when a breathless messenger came running up. "Slow down, young man," Iroh said to him. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"My lord generals," he said, still panting. "The enemy has arrived."


	16. Chapter 15: The Battle of Ba Sing Se

**Chapter 15: The Battle of Ba Sing Se **

Jian Chin left his army behind and walked leisurely towards the massive walls of Ba Sing Se, taking his time so that he could appreciate the view of the outermost portion of the city that would soon be his, but also so that those who stood guard atop the wall could see his easy confidence and fear it. Boulders began to rain down on him as he approached within firing distance, but the warlord simply allowed them to impact harmlessly against him, or in the case of the largest be deflected by his arms. His pace didn't slow at all until he was standing directly beneath the massive wall; then he centered himself and reached down into the earth, pulling from it a pillar of stone that bore him upwards until he was standing even with the defenders on the battlements.

"Defenders of Ba Sing Se!" he thundered, "I am Jian Chin, warlord of the east, chosen by the spirits themselves to rule this land and any others that I desire. What you see hear is only a small sample of my power. Submit yourselves to me, and I shall make your city the glorious heart of my new Empire. Resist me, and you will be destroyed utterly, and Ba Sing Se shall still be mine. Choose now!"

The commander of the wall garrison stepped forward, looking afraid but uncowed. "The decision to surrender this city does not lie with us," he said, "and even if it did, we would not do it. Ba Sing Se has stood for centuries and never fallen to outward attack while the warriors of the Earth King defended it. We will not dishonor that legacy by submitting to a petty tyrant."

"Then you will dishonor it through your senseless sacrifice!" Jian Chin roared. The soldiers stepped back and began firing boulders at the warlord again, but he ignored them. Dropping into a crouch, he allowed his pillar to fall back to the ground from which it had arisen. Long Feng and Wei Ming had tried to convince him to invade the city through secret tunnels; he had agreed to that plan out of necessity. Now, however, he had the power to take Ba Sing Se by force and he intended to exercise it, so that future generations would speak the name "Jian Chin" with the same terrified awe reserved for things like earthquakes and hurricanes.

Standing on the ground directly in front of the great Outer Wall, the warlord raised both hands high into the air and then drove them deep into the stone. The earth quaked and bucked beneath him, and he smiled as he heard the terrified shouts of the soldiers above. Then he focused his will and sent the waves of destruction shooting outwards to undermine the wall's foundation.

The Wall of Ba Sing Se had been built by earthbenders skilled above all else in the task of moving and shaping stone; during the War it had taken the awesome might of the Fire Nation's war machines, and later the cunning stonework of the Dai Li, to bring parts of it down so that enemy troops might enter. It had been repaired since then and made even stronger than before- the Earth King had been assured that no force of this world could smash through it now.

The earthbending architects had never expected to deal with a power like that of Zhan Zheng.

Jian Chin's attack held no subtlety, no careful seeking of the weaknesses within the stone to exploit them and bring the wall down from within. Rather, it simply overwhelmed the solid construction with sheer force that only an army of earthbenders working together with uncanny precision could have matched. The wall was strong, and it held against the shaking earth for several minutes while the soldiers of both armies waited breathlessly, wondering whether the unstoppable warlord or the unbreakable fortification would triumph. Finally, however, cracks began to form within the wall's great stone face, and the soldiers atop it ran and shielded themselves as it broke cleanly in two directly in front of where Jian Chin stood. Rubble rained down around the warlord, but amidst the chaos he was unharmed.

Slowly he rose to his feet and smiled. "See the price you pay for defying my will," he rumbled in his deep voice, and then motioned for the army that waited behind him. "Now come, my warriors. The path is open to the very heart of the city. Victory is in our grasp!"

Jian Chin turned and charged through the gap he had made, his warriors following at his heels. Within his mind, he felt that the spirit was most pleased.

* * *

Iroh and General How ascended to the top of the inner wall as quickly as they could and looked out across the guarded fields of Ba Sing Se. Even here they could feel the earth rumbling slightly beneath their feet and see the column of dust rising from where the outer wall had been breached. "He is already inside," How whispered in shock. "What kind of man is this who could do something like that?"

"A powerful one," Iroh told him, "and powerful men are often overconfident ones as well. Allowing him to take the outer wall has only increased that confidence. We could not have held the outer wall against him long anyway, but the ease of his victory will cause him to underestimate us, and to be drawn within our snare."

"I hope that will be enough," How said, looking out at the rising column of dust.

"So do I," Iroh said softly.

* * *

Jian Chin charged forward, leaving his army far behind him as he crossed the vast plain between the inner and outer walls. He felt invincible, like a god of old, something he had felt before only when fighting the Avatar. True, he always possessed his power, but merely to hold it and use it to dominate inferior foes was something different than to face something that was a legend in its own right and bring it crashing down. It confirmed to him inescapably that he was something beyond anything the world had ever imagined.

A group of soldiers emerged from where they had lain hidden in a trench before him, and Jian Chin laughed that they thought they could possibly be a threat to him. This group was armed not with boulders but with long, thin tubes- they pressed these to their mouths and blew powerfully as he approached. Small projectiles shot from them and struck his rock-hard skin- darts of some kind, probably poisoned. In any case, it didn't matter- the darts couldn't penetrate his thick hide, and it was doubtful that whatever was on them could have hurt him anyway.

Pausing in his march, the warlord slammed his foot into the ground and sent cracks shooting through the rock towards his attackers. He watched pleasurably as they dropped their weapons and ran, and then pursued them, tearing the ground up around him in his wake. In this, Jian Chin acted purely as a force of nature, without regard for tactics or strategy, or anything besides destruction. In this, he acted as Iroh had predicted.

The ground upon which the warlord now stood had been tunneled hastily by earthbenders during the weeks while they had prepared for his coming. This had weakened the underlying rock, and when Jian Chin unleashed his mighty earthbending he damaged it still further. When he placed his great weight on top of it, it became enough to shatter the ground beneath him completely. With a suddenness that left the warlord reeling the earth gave way beneath him, and he found himself plunging into a vast hole in the ground. Out of direct contact with his element, there was only so much that even the mightiest earthbender in the world could do to slow his fall.

Jian Chin impacted against the ground with force that sent shocks running through his body, even though it wasn't enough to truly cause him pain. Snarling wordlessly at this inconvenience and humiliation, he prepared to launch himself out of this pit and take vengeance on whoever had plotted the trap. To his great surprise, however, he found that his limbs would not move. The bottom of the pit had been coated with some sort of sticky paste- not earth, and so he couldn't bend it- that immobilized him. Shouting obscenities, the warlord tried again and again to pull himself to his feet, but each time the paste proved stronger than he was, and he was trapped prone on the ground. No doubt earthbenders would be coming soon to rain boulders down on him, which wouldn't kill him, but combined with the paste could very well imprison him here forever.

He didn't know how long he lay there, staring up at the sun shining down through the hole in the rock, until a face appeared and cut it off. It was familiar- was it Xang? Yes! "Don't just stand there staring, fool!" Jian Chin snarled up at his second-in-command. "Get me out of here!"

"I will my lord!" Xang shouted down at him, "As soon as I figure out how!"

"Out of the way," another voice said, one tinged with both anger and wry amusement. A second figure shoved Xang roughly out of the way- Ilook, his customary half-smile firmly in place as he stared down at the warlord. "I'm fairly certain I know what this is," he said softly. "It's something some of the pirate crews I sailed with used to disable powerful warships. Can you guess what one of the components is?" He broke for a moment into half-mad chuckling, then regained his composure. "_Water_."

The made waterbender raised his hands and his grin vanished into a look of intense concentration. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, and then dampness began to gather on the surface of the paste. After a few moments more the dampness became a full-on coating of water, and then it rose up into the air and wrapped itself around Ilook's arms as two long tentacles. The paste itself was now hard, but without any remaining moisture it had become brittle. Jian Chin snapped through it with ease and then leaped to his feet, calling up a wave of rock to carry him back up to the surface.

"You did well, Illook," he rumbled to the waterbender. "Your skills do come in quite handy sometimes."

Ilook bowed at the waist. "Any mercenary seeks to make himself indispensible to his employer," he said. "Now, I believe, we have earthbenders to kill."

Jian Chin turned to look towards the inner wall and saw his own men moving to engage the city's defenders. "You are correct," he said. "Come, both of you. Let us end this farce."

* * *

General How hung his head as he watched the warlord tear through his elite soldiers. "This is impossible," he growled. "How can we defeat a man who is an entire army in and of himself? Even the shirshu spit darts did nothing to slow him down!"

"But the pit trap did," Iroh reminded him. "It was unfortunate that his waterbender was able to free him, but it did give me hope that the other plan we discussed would work. This enemy has few weaknesses, but his overconfidence is one and his inability to think beyond the obvious is another. I intend to use both to undo him."

How turned to look at the respected adversary who was now his ally. "You know I'm not comfortable with that plan," he said. "It leaves too much to chance, without even considering the personal risks."

Iroh laughed. "I'm not particularly comfortable with it either, but I think that it will work. I have seen Jian Chin's type before, and I understand how he will act. He is a slave to his own ego. But he is also powerful enough that brute force alone cannot stop him." He turned and looked at How dead on. "You must trust me, General."

"Very well," How sighed. "I trust you. Go with my blessing and prepare your trap, Dragon of the West. It's up to you now."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Iroh reminded him with a soft chuckle. The old Fire Nation general turned and descended from the wall, moving deeper into the heart of Ba Sing Se.

* * *

Jian Chin laughed as the elite warriors of the Earth King fell back from him. They fled from his power like the cowards they were, disappearing into the entrances of tunnels that dotted the plain. Striding towards the inner wall, he slammed his fists to the ground as he had before and sent out the waves of shaking earth. This wall, too, held for several minutes, and then it cracked down the middle as the outer one had.

Standing just beyond was another group of soldiers, armed with boulders at the ready. Lunging into attack position, they fired their giant projectiles at him. Jian Chin smiled at how little they had learned and batted the boulders from the air, then sent a wave of earth that knocked the soldiers off their feet and scattered them. Stalking forward, he seized their commander by the collar and held him high.

"Yield to me," the warlord snarled.

"You're a fool, Jian Chin," the man gasped, looking terrified despite his brave words. "The Dragon of the West awaits you at the palace, and he will destroy you."

"We will see who is a fool, and who shall be destroyed," Jian Chin promised, hurling the commander against the wall, where his body collapsed limply. The warlord waved his hand and several of his own men came running forward, seizing the Earth King's soldiers and binding them. Satisfied that they were taken captive, Jian Chin began to stalk through the city streets, his army at his back.

Something bothered Jian Chin as he marched through Ba Sing Se. The city should have been filled with all manner of people- it was the most populated place on the planet, after all! But the streets here were silent and empty as a tomb. People had clearly _been_ here, but where they were now was anyone's guess.

"Something is wrong here, my lord," Xang said, catching up to him. "I don't like this quiet. Where is everyone?"

"They are scheming something, I can feel it!" Ilook snarled from his other side. "Give me one of the captives, and I will discover for you what it is."

"I do not believe that they would be so foolish as to trust a simple footsoldier with their plans, Ilook," Jian Chin rumbled. "No, this is the work of the one the commander mentioned- the Dragon of the West, Iroh, the greatest general of this age. He awaits me at the palace, and I shall crush him beneath my heel. Without his guidance, his plan will fall apart. We go on."

The invading army continued its steady advance through the silent city.

* * *

Bosco growled unhappily and placed his head in the Earth King's lap. The young monarch scratched it absently as he stared towards the great doors of his throne room, waiting for what he knew was coming. Apart from the bear, his only company was Iroh, who also waited patiently for the enemy who appeared to be invincible.

"There is still time for you to flee, Your Majesty," the old firebender told him. "I do not wish for you to put yourself in danger- your people will need you if this goes wrong."

"No," the King told him. "I ran once when my city was threatened, and I will not do that again. I will confront the enemy who wants to destroy me face to face."

Iroh sighed, but said nothing. The two men resumed their silent vigil, waiting for the warlord to arrive. Finally the palace shook, and they both knew that they outer doors had just been blasted from their hinges. The sound of heavy footsteps came from the front hallway, and then the inner doors blew in as well.

The figure that filled the broken doorway looked less like a man than a demon's rough depiction of one. His stature was immense, towering over even the tallest soldiers, and his skin was grey and craggy like stone. It was his eyes, however, that were his most striking feature, for they flickered and burned with green light like fire. As he walked forward, one could almost feel the earth trembling beneath his footsteps.

"So," he rumbled, "you are the ones who would try and keep my destiny from me. Now you understand that this is folly. No power in the world can resist the might that is Jian Chin- any nation that I seek to claim is mine. Now the very heart of the ancient Earth Kingdom belongs to me, and my name shall go down in history as the greatest conqueror who has ever lived." The flame in his eyes brightened. "Kneel before me now, both of you, and accept me as your lord and master. Then I might be willing to spare your lives." From behind the warlord came a half-mad cackle, and Iroh saw that it came from a slender young man who seemed altogether amused by the proceedings. He was dark-skinned and dressed in a blue tunic- this must be the waterbender.

But Iroh's attention was drawn back to Jian Chin. The old firebender had travelled to the spirit world once, years ago. To this day he retained a degree of sensitivity to the beings of that realm, and as the warlord had spoken he had seen something flickering about him, a spirit that had attached itself to his soul like some monstrous leech. It was a confirmation of Iroh's worst fears about this enemy, but more than that, he was fairly certain he recognized the spirit from somewhere, as though it was an old friend he had long missed…

The Dragon of the West shook his head, dispelling that notion. Smiling, he stepped forward to face Jian Chin. "The Earth King and I," he said without a hint of bitterness, "would be happy to discuss surrender terms with you."

The warlord laughed. "You see sense, old man, but you don't understand. I have already won. There are no terms save for those that I have outlined. You both will submit to me unconditionally, or you will die. Those are your only options."

"No, my friend, it is _you _who does not understand," Iroh told him, still smiling. "I was referring to the terms of _your_ surrender."

Jian Chin stared at him perplexedly for a moment, and then burst out laughing again, this time so intensely that it really did seem to make the earth shake. "My surrender? I had heard that you were a genius, old man, but now I see that you're just mad. Or maybe you're going senile? Either way, you must understand that I will never surrender on the eve of my own victory."

"Your victory is an illusion," Iroh explained to him, the way he might lecture a promising pupil who had just made a major strategic blunder. "Surely you did not think that even with your great power you could defeat our best soldiers so easily? They had been ordered to fall back before you, to make you overconfident, but also to warn you that I was here waiting for you. Your pride would demand that you come to face me personally, and so you came here, exactly as I intended.

"You have no doubt wondered where the people of Ba Sing Se are. They were ordered into hiding in the tunnels beneath the city, and among them are not only the majority of our earthbending soldiers, but also those benders who do not serve as warriors. You are indeed powerful, but you are not so strong that you can defeat every earthbender in Ba Sing Se if you are in the one place where all can focus on you at once. When the order is given, they will act as one to drop this palace into the undercity, and then entomb you within it. Even you could not escape a prison created and reinforced by so many benders. You would try to escape, but in the end you would perish." Iroh stared intently at him, his expression more disapproving than angry. "You have lost."

"Why are you telling me this?" Jian Chin demanded angrily.

Iroh spread his hands. "Your fate if you persist in this course of action will be a terrible one. I would not wish it upon any man, and so I offer you this one chance to surrender. I will offer you a week in which to make up your mind. If you set one foot outside of this palace without sending myself and the Earth King out first, however, you will be destroyed. The only way you will be allowed to leave is if you vow to never return to Ba Sing Se- and if the spirit that now shares your body will vacate it."

"Never," two voices hissed as one from the warlord's mouth. "This city is mine, Dragon of the West. I should strike you down right now, and take my chances with the army."

"If you kill either of us, you will not be able to escape," Iroh reminded him. "Remember- if the Earth King's soldiers see you try and leave any part of the palace without us both, they will spring the trap."

"I don't believe you," the warlord said. "I don't believe you would destroy your most important building just to destroy me."

"Buildings are easily replaced, for earthbenders. Freedom is not so easily regained. Are you willing to take the risk that they will not make this sacrifice to defend their nation?"

Jian Chin's eyes flared as he scanned the room, as if looking for some way out of the trap he had unwittingly stumbled in to. Finally his gaze returned to Iroh, and again the image of the spirit flickered around him. When he spoke this time, his voice was different, older and stronger, and it took on a wheedling, almost friendly tone.

"Hear me, Iroh," he said. "You served me well, once, for many long years. You became a legend in your own lifetime, and there are those who say you are the greatest firebender currently alive. I can offer you more than that. Whatever the Earth King has promised you to defend him, it pales in comparison to what I can give you. You can become a greater legend than any that has come before, a colossus that will stand astride the whole world. You will be a _god_. All that I ask in return is that you serve me once again."

There was a part of Iroh that remembered a time when the spirit's words- and he was certain that it was the spirit that was speaking now- would have held great temptation for him, but no longer. He knew now what it was, and the memory of Lu Ten's dead face rose out of the past to hover before him. "I will not serve you," Iroh told him. "Your gifts always come tainted, and in the end the price you ask is too high for any man to pay. I will have none of you any longer. Your choices are the ones I outline to you- leave your pawn and return to the spirit world, or face destruction."

Jian Chin's face looked disappointed for a moment, and then the warlord lunged forward. Rocks shot up from the floor, binding Iroh, the Earth King, and even Bosco.* "Take them to whatever passes for cells in this palace!" the warlord thundered. "Do not release them, but do not harm them either. I must think on this matter."

As they were dragged from the hall, the Earth King turned to face Iroh. "Well?" he asked. "Do you think he'll really leave?"

"I do not know," Iroh said. "His pride may not allow it. In any case, it is the spirit that dwells within him that is the true threat, and those are hard to deal with. Even I have never been forced to kill a spirit before now. He is simply too strong for normal tactics to prevail against him.

"But I have bought us time," the old man continued. "I feel that destiny has something more in mind for Jian Chin and his 'companion'. We have played our part, but I do not believe it will be for us to finish it. It is in other hands now."

"The Avatar?" the Earth King whispered.

"Perhaps. In any case, it will be someone who has learned how to take the fight to the spirit itself."

*In case you're wondering why Iroh doesn't try firebending here, it's because he knows it won't work- Jian Chin is pretty much impervious to conventional attack after Zhan Zheng enhanced his natural toughness, especially against bending. He'd rather conserve his energy in case things go south later and he winds up needing it then. As for not calling the Order of the White Lotus, that seems to be something that happens only if there is a literal apocalypse (like Ozai's 'burn the Earth Kingdom' plan), and gathering them all together would have taken time he didn't have anyway. Remember, it was only just now that Iroh even confirmed there was a spirit involved here, much less what it was.


	17. Chapter 16: The Return

_AN: Brief note about the last chapter- some people have been wondering whether Zhan Zheng has the power to influence the mind of whoever he's possessing, seeing as a superpowered Iroh wouldn't, in and of itself, be a bad thing. The answer is that yes, he certainly can- see Wei Ming's dead and how she changes after he leaves as an example of that. Iroh accepting Zhan Zheng's power would have been like Gandalf taking the One Ring in Lord of the Rings- in the short term, a solution to the world's problems, but in the long term just another tyrant after the new source of power slowly ate up his mind. Iroh doesn't know that specifically, but he's smart enough to recognize that someone like Zhan Zheng never gives gifts without strings attached. Hope that clears things up!_

**Chapter 16: The Return**

Azula was barely aware of the Spirit World blowing past her as she followed the connection that would lead her back to her body. She was moving so fast now that she almost didn't feel like she was running- rather, it seemed like she was being pulled along by the invisible connection, her feet not even touching the ground. The land around her seemed to be coming more insubstantial as well and was occasionally interspersed with what she thought had to be flashes of the landscape of the physical world, though as she didn't recognize it she could be sure. At the speed Azula was going, she found herself blasted by wind so that it took all of her will to keep a "hold" on her connection and not be blown off into the void. Somehow, she managed it.

The air began to blur in front of her- for an instant she saw her mother, Ty Lee, and Captain Shin and his soldiers, two of whom had what appeared to be her body on a stretcher between them. They were walking determinedly along a forest path, but the image flickered and vanished before Azula could tell any more than that. Gritting her teeth, she focused her will and the scene shimmered back into focus.

Ursa lead the way, her bearing straight and her expression determined. Shin followed closely at her side, his eyes looking warily about for danger. The two soldiers carrying Azula's body walked behind them, and Ty Lee was at their side. There was something strange about the acrobat's expression, a dark look in her eyes and a feeling of sadness about her. It might be, Azula thought, because of her own condition, but she doubted it. Nothing she knew had ever been able to keep Ty Lee down for long. Something else must be happening.

The princess realized that she had stopped moving and her vision was no longer wobbling- she had arrived at her destination, even though she hadn't yet reunited with her body. Holding up one hand, she could see the sunlight shining through at, and looking down at her feet she could see that the grass wasn't bent where she was standing on it. So she was still pure spirit, but in the physical world. Time to complete the process.

Azula stepped forward- stepped? Glided? She wasn't sure what the right word was- and walked past the two soldiers, who seemed completely oblivious to her presence. Reaching out one translucent hand, she touched it lightly to her body's forehead, uncertain of what was going to happen but knowing only that it felt like the right thing to do.

For a moment she paused, looking down at the comatose form and feeling a strange feeling of vertigo as she considered that this was actually _her_, and that she was looking at herself from an outside perspective. Then a strange sensation jerked at her stomach and she found herself falling forwards, falling into her own face and darkness…

* * *

She groaned, aware of nothing but the pain shooting through her forehead. Pain… yes, there it was, a sensation more real than anything she had felt for some time, though she couldn't remember why that was. There was another pain too, one that traced a thin line down one cheek. _Her scar._ Yes, she hadn't remembered that in the place she was before, probably because it wasn't yet part of her image of herself, part of her spirit… Spirit World…

With a gasp Azula sat up, startling the two soldiers who held the stretcher so that they almost dropped her. Once she would have considered that minor offense cause for several grades of demotion at least (and then only if she'd been in a good mood), but now it hardly seemed to matter compared with the fact that she had finally managed to get back to her body, her world, her _life_…

Rubbing her forehead to clear away the last of the headaches, she moved to jump off the stretcher when something took her head on and wrapped tight arms around her. "Azula!" Ty Lee said. "You're awake! You're alive!"

"I won't be much longer if you don't… let go!" Azula managed to gasp out. Ty Lee pulled back rather sheepishly, giving Azula the space she needed to get down of the stretcher and begin pacing back and forth in front of it, luxuriating in the feeling of her legs moving. In the Spirit World it just wasn't the same, and now she forcibly realized that.

"So, what happened to you?" Ty Lee asked. "I mean, you were _gone_- not just like you were after you got knocked out or even after… well, the you know what, but really _gone._ Even your aura sort of… faded. I mean, it's great that you're alive and all, but… how?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Azula said.

"Aww, come on," Ty Lee said. "Bet I would."

Azula sighed. "When the waterbender attacked me, a dead Avatar and Agni saved my life by transporting my spirit to the Spirit World, and I've been trying to find a way back ever since." She narrowed her eyes. "And exactly how long has it been, anyway? Where I was, I wasn't exactly able to keep track of time."

"Whoa," Ty Lee breathed, eyes wide. "That's just… whoa. Oh, and it's been a couple of weeks." That dark look was back in her eyes now, and Azula still didn't like it.

"What happened, Ty Lee?" she asked. "I can tell something's wrong, and it might be important. Tell me."

The acrobat sighed. "Well, yesterday- I felt something, like I did a few days before you were attacked, only a lot stronger. I don't know what's happened, but I don't think it's good."

"I believe that it is Jian Chin," another voice said, and Azula turned to see her mother, who had apparently been standing quietly off to the side during the whole conversation. "You know that he is alive, and that he was marching towards Ba Sing Se at an incredible pace. I'm afraid that he has reached it- or maybe even taken it."

Taken Ba Sing Se…. no one had ever done that before, at least not by frontal assault. Azula had, but that had involved taking the Earth King and his general's captive and the assistance of the Dai Li- she certainly wouldn't want to be in the position of assaulting those great walls from the outside. She certainly couldn't imagine Jian Chin, who had been powerful but a fool when she'd fought him, accomplishing that feat. But then, she couldn't imagine him rising from the dead, either…

"Zhan Zheng," she said, hissing the spirit's name like a curse. _Jian Chin_ might not have the power to topple Ba Sing Se, but with the spirit of war on his side, who could say what he could accomplish?

"Zhan what?" Ty Lee asked, scratching her head. "Did you learn a new language in the Spirit World, or is that some sort of weird city-conquering earthbending move nobody ever told me about?"

"Zhan Zheng is a spirit monster that has been responsible for almost all the troubles I've been facing since the end of the war," Azula said softly. "Azun's rebellion, Wei Ming, now this- all his doing. He's the spirit of war. He got fat on a century of conflict, and now he's not about to crawl back into the shadows and let things return to the way they were."

"So you're saying that our enemy is a spirit?" Captain Shin asked, expression dark. "How do you fight something like that? I fear no living enemy, but how do you kill something that isn't even alive in the same way we are?"

_How do you destroy an idea?_ The face-stealer's riddle came back to Azula, and she was no closer to understanding it now than she was then. "I don't know," she said, "but I will find a way to kill him, and I will use it. I met him in person in the Spirit World, and he wants me- he called me his child." The princess's eyes glinted like golden mirrors. "But nobody- not even a spirit- will rule me. If he is at Ba Sing Se, that is where we need to go, now, to end this."

Ursa paled. "You actually mean to face this creature, then?" she asked. "It will kill you!"

Azula turned to look at her. "Like I said- he wants me. We're going to fight either way, but I want to make it on my terms, not his. Don't try to talk me out of it, Mother. My mind is made up."

"Then I know better than to think I can change it," Ursa said sadly, turning away.

For a moment Azula stood there, feeling that she should say something but not knowing what it should be. Finally she turned and stalked along the road towards the west, looking off in the direction of Ba Sing Se. She could almost feel the spirit's presence there, waiting for her. She was the key, for some reason she didn't understand, and while that limited how she could act, she had every intention of using her position in the center of Zhan Zheng's thought to her advantage.

"Azula," a voice said at her side, and she turned to see Ty Lee. "It's great that you're back and all, but I really think you should talk to your mom. I know it's hard- I've got family issues too, you know- but she _has_ been worrying about you, even if she has a hard time showing it. I just think you should, is all."

Azula snarled under her breath and hung her head. War, politics, firebending- those were things she understood, things she was so _good_ at, things that most people considered incredibly difficult- and yet she found them far easier than finding ways to relate to people without trying to control or manipulate them. For a moment she considered ignoring Ty Lee and her mother entirely and directing all her focus to the coming battle, where it was needed. She could deal with her mother afterwards.

Then she paused, images of the Well of Time coming back to her. She saw the dead again, each wandering aimlessly through the darkness and moaning about the troubles of its life, which it had refused to let go. Perhaps, if she continued on this route, someday she would join them and some future visitor to the Well would see a sad, pale Azula-shade hovering there, moaning about how she had focused on power and victory to the exclusion of all else, and so lost her humanity. She'd thought she'd conquered that problem in the cave below Jian Chin's fortress when she'd confronted her father's image for the final time, but perhaps moral resolutions, like royal commands, were meaningless when not backed by actions.

"You're right, Ty Lee," she said quietly. "The issues with my mother are a weight I've been carrying around long enough. If I really want to move on, then it's something I need to settle, and soon." Azula thought for a moment. "Tonight. I'll do it tonight, while everyone else is asleep, so we won't be bothered." Ty Lee nodded approvingly, but she still looked somewhat worried- after all, patching up personal relationships wasn't exactly the princess's strongest area.

What the acrobat didn't understand was that this was only the next stage of a process that had begun almost as soon as her friend had come back to herself in the Fire Nation mental institute. Over the last few months, it seemed as though Azula had been cutting the threads binding her to her old life one at a time- desire for the throne, reverence for her father, unshakable belief in her own superiority; all had gone. Now, having passed through the Spirit World and back and caught a brief glimpse of what lay beyond, it was time to cut another.

The old Azula was gone almost beyond recall now. She didn't yet know exactly who was going to take her place.


	18. Chapter 17: Back in Action

**Chapter 17: Back in Action**

After so many years of dreaming, Jian Chin at last sat upon the throne of the Earth King, and found his victory hollow.

It wasn't supposed to have been this way. He was supposed to have taken the city by storm, as he did, but then he was to have been crowned by the most powerful nobleman he could find and bend to his will in front of an adoring crowd. They would have chanted his name as he took the throne, for they would have recognized that here was the greatest conqueror that the world had seen since the days of legend. Then, after taking a few weeks to consolidate his power, he would have marched out and led his people to glorious victory, until the Earth Kingdom dominated all the world with himself at its head.

That was how it was supposed to be, Jian Chin thought, but that was not reality. He was a prisoner in his own palace with no one on hand but his own soldiers and two annoyingly defiant captives, incapable of extending his power beyond a single building. He couldn't even escape without the whole Earth Kingdom army collapsing that building on him, and if he tried to tunnel out with earthbending they would be able to stop him. The warlord possessed power, but subtlety was what he needed now, and that was something he had never bothered to learn. This was perhaps the worst position he had ever been in- worse even than when he had been the ruler of a land that a swift runner could cross in two days.

"This is all your fault!" The warlord roared to the invisible presence that hung around him- the throne room was apparently empty, but Jian Chin knew better. He could sense Zhan Zheng's presence not only within him but in the very air. "You promised glory and led me to ruin. Why? Have I offended you in some way, or do you do this to amuse yourself?"

"_Be silent, fool,_" a voice hissed from the air. "_Do not blame me for your own ineptitudes."_

Jian Chin rose to his feet and lifted a fist- a pointless gesture, he knew, but one that made him feel better- when suddenly a terrible weakness overtook him. He sank to his knees, unable to support his own weight any longer, and watched as his skin returned to ordinary human color and texture before his horrified eyes. A thin mist seemed to be seeping from his body, and he looked up to see it form into a pale silhouette with burning, multicolored eyes that hung menacingly in the air before him.

"_You were nothing before me_," Zhan Zheng said. "_You were worse than nothing- a petty little man who sat in squalor and thought himself great, but in truth fit only for mockery. You could have been more- you had bending power, you had vision- but they were always held back by your own foolishness and cowardice. You spent years chasing the favor of the Lady Ursa for nothing, when you could have been building armies and planning conquest. I changed that- I made you strong, I gave you drive, _I _made you a force so powerful the Avatar himself fell before you._ _But when you rush headlong into a trap, it is _I _whom you foolishly choose to blame, when I alone can save you now."_

"You could have done something!" Jian Chin snarled. "You could have warned me what they were planning. Or maybe you're not so all-knowing as you'd like me to think. Is that it?"

The burning eyes narrowed. _"Do you think I didn't try and warn you? You were so caught up in your battle rage that I found it impossible to penetrate your mind until we reached the throne room, by which point it was too late. We are not entirely separate, after all- I can only reach your thoughts when they are open to me." _

"Not entirely separate, eh?" Jian Chin asked mockingly, then gestured down at himself. "Then what do you call this?"

_"A reminder, mortal. What I gave, I can take away whenever I choose. You were nothing before me and would be nothing without me. Your only hope of salvation now rests with me."_

"All right then- talk. What do we do?"

_"Wait,"_ Zhan Zheng said. "_Events are in motion- I have seen that before our time runs out, this city shall be a battleground once more. That will be the final throw- triumph there, and you will have crushed your most dangerous enemies and be free to rule this world as you see fit."_

"And if I fail?" the warlord asked.

_"With me at your side, you shall not fail. But just in case, I suggest we have our servants interrogate the Earth King and Iroh. Perhaps they have a secret plan of escape after all- one which we could take advantage of." _The eyes gleamed with malice and amusement. _"I might also recommend surrendering and leaving the palace, only to turn and demolish it with a single blow as soon as you are free, but I do not think your pride would allow it. I can influence, but not control." _

"Jian Chin surrenders to no one, not even as a deception!" he snarled, and the spirit seemed to give a resigned sigh. "But your other advice is sound. Our partnership stands?"

_"It does." _The misty outline faded, eyes last of all, and Jian Chin felt his power fill him once again. Drawing himself to his full height, he luxuriated in it for a moment and then stomped over to the hastily repaired door, throwing it open and looking down at the guards who waited just outside.

"Fetch Ilook," he ordered. "I have a task for which his particular expertise might prove useful."

* * *

"There it is!" Katara called as she leaned over Appa's side. "Kyoshi Island, dead ahead!"

"Does this mean we can land soon?" Toph asked from the rear of the saddle, her voice sounding somewhat woozier than normal- the earthbender had never really gotten the hang of flying, and having been away from it for several months had not improved her disposition regarding that means of travel.

"For as long as it takes to get Sokka and Suki," Aang told her. "But then we'll be up in the air again and on our way to the Fire Nation." Toph put her head in her hands and groaned.

Appa gave one of his deep, rumbling bellows as he began to circle towards the small, green island. For a moment Aang let his eyes wander towards the surrounding sea, hoping to catch a brief glimpse of one of Kyoshi's Elephant Koi or the famed Unagi, but he quickly refocused his attention on the island itself. They needed to find Sokka, and fast. The Avatar had no doubt that Zhan Zheng wouldn't be wasting time.

They circled slowly around the island, the people of the village pointing upward in happy amazement as the passed over, but there was no sign of either the Kyoshi Warriors or Sokka. Finally, when they were about to land and ask for help, Aang spotted a familiar lanky figure in Water Tribe blue, fishing near one of the beaches.

"Sokka!" Katara called as Aang brought Appa in for a landing. At the sound of her voice her brother started and nearly lost his balance on the rock he was sitting on before turning around and spotting the descending Sky Bison. He dropped his fishing line and hurried towards them; Katara slid off of Appa's back as he landed, and the two Water Tribe siblings embraced.

"Katara!" Sokka said, pulling away. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, we have a bit of a problem," the waterbender told him, her voice taking on a darker edge.

"A _bit_?" Toph asked from behind her. "There's a giant earthbender out there- who _might_ be even better than me, even though he cheated- who wants to take over the world, and you say we have a _bit_ of a problem? That's just wrong."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sokka said, holding out his hands. "Start at the beginning. Where'd this giant earthbender guy come from, anyway, and how is it that Aang can't just go all Avatar State and stomp him? And how do you cheat at earthbending? Throwing booby-trapped rocks?" The young warrior paused and narrowed his eyes at that idea; Aang decided that he was probably wondering exactly how to booby trap a rock, and if he could do it. If there was anyone he knew who could not only come up with the most bizarre schemes but actually make them work, it was Sokka.

"That's not exactly it," Aang told him, stepping forward. "But this is something big, and I think it's going to take all of us to stop it. It all started a couple weeks ago, when I dreamed about Avatar Roku…"

They sat down on the beach as Aang told his story. When he was finished, Sokka shook his head. "So you're _sure_ there's a spirit involved and this Jian Chin isn't just some rock-skinned freak with an ego problem?" he asked, tone half sarcastic and half hopeful.

"No," Aang said. "When I tried to bend his spirit, I saw something inside there- something that talked to me, and hated me more than anything I'd ever met before. Whatever it was, it wasn't human, and it was almost as powerful as me. Maybe even a little more."

"Me and Suki are with you, Aang," Sokka told him. "We helped you take down the Fire Lord, and we'll help you take down this guy too." He looked around. "Hey, it'll be like old times- me, you Katara, Toph, Suki. Team Avatar is back together, and this Jian Chin isn't even gonna know what hit him."

"Just like old times?" Toph asked. "Aren't you forgetting somebody, Snoozles? We're going to need to fly over to the Fire Nation and pick up Zuko before we go back to fight Jian Chin, and I am so _not_ looking forward to flying across the ocean and back."

"Wait a minute," Sokka said, eyes narrow. "Maybe we don't have to! I've still got that messenger hawk Zuko gave me after my first one disappeared." Here he paused to look over at Katara for some reason Aang didn't understand; the waterbender adopted a look of extreme innocence. "I'll go get Suki, and I'll bring Hawky II at the same time. That way we can send a message to Zuko without having to go all the way out to the Fire Nation and back. He can take an airship and meet us at Ba Sing Se!"

"That might work," Katara said, looking impressed.

"I'm all for any plan that cuts down on our flying time," Toph put in. "No offense," she added, looking over her shoulder at Appa, who accepted the apology with a low groan.

"All right then." Sokka jumped to his feet. "I'll go get Suki and the bird. Don't leave without me!" Turning, he hurried off towards the center of the island.

He was back in just a few minutes with a majestic red bird perched on one shoulder and a long sword of similar design to the one he had lost doing battle with the Phoenix King's airship armada, though this one was made from ordinary steel rather than meteor iron slung over his shoulder. Suki walked at his side, resplendent in full Kyoshi Warrior regalia.

"Sokka told me what's going on," the warrior girl said as they approached. "You can count on us both. The other Warriors wanted to come to, but," she glanced over at Appa, "I really didn't think we'd have enough room."

Aang chuckled. "I think Appa'd get pretty tired carrying that many people at once, wouldn't you, buddy?" The bison groaned a response that sounded decidedly like an agreement. "But we're glad to have you along."

"All right," Sokka said, unrolling a sheet of paper on a flat rock and pulling out a brush and inkpot, "time to get our favorite Fire Lord and his gloomy girlfriend in on the action." He was just about to start writing when Katara lightly took the brush from his hand.

"I think it would be better if I did this part," she said. "We do want Zuko and Mai to be able to read this, after all."

"Are you making fun of my handwriting?" Sokka asked as Katara went to work. "You are, aren't you? Admit it!"

"Well, Sokka," Aang said, "she does have a bit of a point. I mean, there are probably people out there with worse handwriting, but…"

"I've never had a problem with it," Toph said. Sokka glared at her, and Suki had to put a gloved hand over her mouth to hide a very un-warrior like giggle. Finally Katara finished and handed the letter over to her brother.

"All done," she said. "If you would do the honors, Sokka? It is your bird, after all."

"That's right," Sokka said, stroking "Hawky II" on the back of the neck as he rolled the letter up and fit it into the case on the bird's back. "All right then- I'm all ready to go. I'll launch him once we get up into the air."

Aang leaped lightly up onto Appa's back. Katara, Sokka, and Suki followed closely after, the rear brought up by a grumbling Toph. After checking to make sure everyone was seated, Aang gave a tug on the bison's reins. "Yip Yip!" he said, and with a powerful motion of his tail and a wave of airbending, Appa launched from the ground and into the sky. Kyoshi Island shrunk away beneath them, and as it vanished into the distance Sokka held up his wrist and sent his messenger hawk soaring off towards the west, and the Fire Nation.

"Last we saw him, Jian Chin was marching towards Ba Sing Se," Aang said, "so that's where we're going- if he's not there yet, we'll head him off. If he is- that's where we'll take him down."

"All right!" Sokka shouted. "Bad guys beware! Team Avatar is back in action."

Even though he knew he was heading into battle against an enemy he had no idea how to defeat, Aang smiled.


	19. Chapter 18: Coming Clean

**Chapter 18: Coming Clean**

Ursa wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the cold as she stared out into the night. It was her turn to stand watch; they might have been back in relatively civilized lands by now, but with Jian Chin's army out there somewhere they weren't willing to take any chances. Captain Shin had volunteered himself and his men to perform the task by themselves, but Ursa had shot him down. Largely out of practice as she was, she was still a firebender and more than capable of defending herself long enough to wake the others. Besides, she appreciated the chance to think. There was, and had been for years, too much to allow her to sleep peacefully.

The Fire Nation noblewoman felt the whisper of air beside her and looked up without surprise to see one of the issues that concerned her standing there. Two pairs of gold eyes met, but Azula did not speak; she merely sat beside her mother and joined her in staring off into the darkness. For a brief and shameful moment, Ursa's instinct was to pull away; when her daughter was awake, she couldn't shake the memory of the child who had learned cruelty at Ozai's knee and might have grown to become even more dangerous than he. Then she caught herself and shook her head. _She is your child_, Ursa told herself. _Remember that, whatever else she might be. _

Finally, she broke the silence. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" she asked, turning slowly to face Azula.

"I'm not tired," the younger woman replied. "My body just spent the last few weeks effectively in a coma- believe me when I say that lying down and sleeping isn't remotely what it wants to do right now. Maybe my spirit needs rest, but normal sleep wouldn't be enough to help with that."

Both fell silent again for several minutes, until finally Ursa spoke again. "Why are you here, Azula?" she asked quietly.

Her daughter turned to face her, a darkly amused smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "What, you don't think me wanting to spend time with my mother is enough of a reason?"

"I know you too well to believe that," Ursa said sadly.

"Really?" Azula asked, and now a haunted note entered her voice. "Do you really? If you do, then you're more perceptive than I am, mother. All my life I prided myself in understanding the people around me- they're dreams, they're hopes, they're fears- all so that I could make use of them if I needed to. It never occurred to me to think that the one person I never understood at all was myself. Oh, I thought I did, but I was wrong. But I think I finally understand things better now."

"What are you saying?"

Azula laughed, short and bitter, and for a moment Ursa felt nothing but pity for the damaged, nearly broken person beside her. She tentatively reached out a hand, but something held her back. "What am I saying?" Azula asked then. "I'm going to tell you about myself, mother, and I want you to listen and understand. I don't ask for your forgiveness, and I don't particularly expect it. I just want you to understand.

"You know what kind of man Father was- proud, arrogant, determined to get his way no matter what and crush whatever stood between him and his goal utterly. I think that he always resented that he wasn't Grandfather's heir, and he always planned to take the throne from Iroh when he had the chance. He knew that he would need a worthy heir, and he it's rather clear to anyone with eyes that he decided on me. Don't ask me why- his was the one mind I was never really able to fathom. Maybe he thought you'd already ruined Zuko by the time I came along, or maybe he thought that he could bend a girl to his will more easily than a boy, or maybe he could tell somehow that my spirit was more in line with his than anyone else in the family's was. Either way, he took me under his wing from as early as I can remember and taught me how to fit his vision of the perfect royalty.

"It's tempting to lay all the blame for everything that went wrong in my life on his feet- after he died, I did for weeks. I thought that when I banished his voice from my head I was rid of him for good. But in the Spirit World I saw… well, I'd rather not talk about it. Suffice to say that I saw something that convinced me I have to take the responsibility for my own life, my own mistakes. Father made me what I am, but I went along with it. I _liked_ it. You can't understand how it felt to be me all those years, mother- you're from an old, noble house, and you're a firebender, but I was the Fire Lord's favored daughter, the perfect prodigy. I could do no wrong, defeat any enemy, and exercise power over anyone I chose. It never occurred to me to question it because it all felt so _right._ It was obvious that I was better than everyone else, so why should I care about them? Even Mai and Ty Lee weren't equals, even though they were something more than minions."

Azula's eyes seemed to lose their focus then, as her mind dipped into dark places where Ursa couldn't follow. "It all went wrong so fast," she said in a soft, almost childlike voice. "Betrayal after betrayal. I couldn't imagine that I had been wrong, so I blamed everyone else for abandoning me. That only made things worse, and in what should have been my finest hour I realized just how powerless I'd always been. I… don't remember much after that. Just darkness and pain as my rage turned inside and ate me up. Then… nothing.

"When I came back to myself, I was still alone. It was two peasants who saved me, if you'll believe it. That's when I really paid attention to people who cared about each other outside of our lovely messed-up family before; maybe that's where I first started to separate from the person I used to be. There was a general who wanted to use me to return the Fire Nation to conquest- you remember Azun. I helped defeat him, but I didn't do it for the Fire Nation. I did it for me, because I still cared about myself more than anything.

"I came looking for you after Father died. That was still about me more than you, Mother- I thought that if I found you, I could somehow magically cure myself of the madness that still lay in wait inside me. You know about the shadow, Wei Ming, that haunted me on that journey. She wasn't the first enemy to teach me that I wasn't perfect, but she was the first to… mark me permanently, and she was nothing more than a mad peasant with a spirit's help. That's when I realized that I couldn't continue my life the way I had." She clenched her fist. "No- I realized it a long time ago, maybe as early as when I first felt the madness taking me. That was only when I was willing to admit it."

Azula turned her golden gaze on her mother with full force. "Why did I think I had to save you? Why am I telling you this now? Because all my life you have represented the part of me that I did not understand. I love you, and I have hated you. For years I called you weak and dismissed you out of my thoughts, but in the end that didn't save me. I don't know if you can help me now, but I've seen that I need to let go of old hates and obsessions." She lowered her eyes. "I don't expect forgiveness. I'm not sure I even want it. I just wanted you to understand."

Ursa stared at her daughter, her soul a torrent of emotions. Love, pity, and fear all warred within her, but she thought she understood what Azula was saying now, and though she knew that the princess was a consummate liar, here her words had the uncomfortable ring of truth. She had recognized the errors of her life, and sought to explain them without apologizing for them- she merely set them forth as the facts of her existence. That she now wanted to change also seemed sincere, but underlying it all Ursa sensed fear- fear that her mother would reject her, fear that she would not prove strong enough to meet the task ahead, fear that she would slip back into madness despite her best efforts. In other words, she feared failing at the tasks she had set for herself. Ursa wondered if her daughter had always feared failure, but had simply proved unable to admit such to herself, channeling it into an insane perfectionism that had shown itself even as a child.

The noblewoman saw that Azula was looking at her intently once again, as if waiting for a response. Finally, considering her words carefully, Ursa spoke. "I understand," she said softly. "You are not the only one with darkness staining your soul. It was I who killed Fire Lord Azulon, and therefore through me Ozai was able to accomplish all the atrocities of his reign, and his victims' blood is on my hands as well. I did it to save Zuko, but part of me has always wondered if there couldn't have been another way. And his was not the first life I took in the service of the Fire Nation. I know what it is like to be bound by the chains of your past."

Two pairs of gold eyes met again. "I don't know if I can forgive you for your actions, Azula, and I don't know if you can forgive mine. But maybe that's beyond the point now. The past is over, and now we both need healing. Maybe we _can_ help each other after all."

Azula gave a sudden, short laugh again. "From what I understand, most families would not consider a tentative alliance to be a sign of progress in a relationship."

Ursa returned her daughter's dark half-smile from before. "We are royalty, Azula. That does tend to complicate matters." The younger woman's lip twitched slightly at that, and on an impulse she didn't fully understand Ursa reached out and put an arm around her shoulder. At first Azula tensed as if she was about to shove her mother away, but then she allowed herself to relax ever so slightly.

The two sat there, quiet and still, until the sun began to rise above the trees.

* * *

Zuko crumpled the note in his hand, his mind still processing the contents. In less than a moment he spun to face the servants who stood just behind him and motioned one of them forward. "I want my airship ready to fly in an hour," the Fire Lord said. "And find General Akai and tell him that I want a compliment of his best men. We're going to Ba Sing Se."

"Majesty," the servant said, bowing at the waist and then hurrying off to perform his duties.

"What's wrong, Zuko?" a soft, somewhat scratchy voice said from off to the side. The Fire Lord turned to see Mai standing there, leaning quietly against the wall and idly toying with one of her knives. "I haven't seen you that stressed since Azula escaped."

Zuko walked over to her and handed her the note. "Read this," he said without preamble. Mai took it and quickly scanned the contents, her eyes widening almost imperceptibly- the equivalent of an expression of stunned disbelief on anyone else. Finally she lowered it and looked up at him.

"So this Jian Chin person is trying to take over the Earth Kingdom _and_ he might be more powerful than the Avatar?" Mai said. "No wonder you looked so bent out of shape."

Zuko snarled and made a fist. "What good was stopping my Father anyway, if some other power-hungry lunatic could just come along and start the whole thing over again?" he asked no one in particular. "This time, though, we're not going to let things get out of hand. If Aang needs our help, he's going to get it." He closed his eyes and lowered his head. "And Uncle, too. He was still in Ba Sing Se last time I heard from him. If Aang and Katara are right, then he's right in Jian Chin's path."

"Zuko, you know your uncle can take care of himself," Mai said.

Zuko raised his head and looked at her. "I know, but he's an old man and would it be too much to ask for him to have a quiet retirement? And Dragon of the West or not, from what this sounds like I wouldn't like anyone's chances of going up against Jian Chin alone. Both of them look like they need help, and I'll be there to give it."

"_I_?" Mai asked, incredulously. "You know, for being the monarch of one of the most powerful nations in the world, you can be really thick about the people around you. If there's some spirit-powered earthbender running around and you're about to run off and face him, you're _not_ doing it alone. I'm coming with you."

Zuko allowed himself a tight smile and put an arm around Mai's shoulders. "I wouldn't have it any other way."


	20. Chapter 19: Dragon and the Waterbender

**Chapter 19: The Dragon and the Waterbender**

Iroh looked up from where he'd been sitting in the floor of his cell as the door creaked open. One of the guards who had been assigned to him stood there, and beside him were two burly earthbenders who looked like they were probably members of Jian Chin's elite. "Get up, old man," one of them said curtly. "You're wanted."

"Ah," Iroh said, standing and stretching. "Does this mean your master has finally decided to depart? I had hoped he would be a reasonable man. I'm looking forward to breathing the fresh air again."

The earthbender only scowled at him, and the old general shook his head. Jian Chin, it seemed, belonged to the same school of thought as his own brother Ozai when it came to recruiting soldiers whose fighting skills were outmatched by their complete lack of interesting personalities. Sighing, he allowed the two newcomers to take him by the wrists and lead him off along the corridor, leaving the cell standing empty behind them- for security, the Earth King was being kept elsewhere.

They walked only a short distance before coming to a door which the guards opened and dragged Iroh inside. It was small and completely bare, except for an a stone table in the center which was raised at an angle and bore metal shackles along its side, leaving little doubt as to its purpose. The old firebender allowed them to bind him to it, knowing he could escape easily if he so desired it- it was Jian Chin himself who would give him trouble if he tried, not these guards or their prison. After he was secure, the two men backed away and a third entered the small cell.

This man was younger than the others, though he still looked like he had at least ten years on Iroh's own nephew, and there was a lean and hungry look about him, a cruelty that lurked behind his wry half-smile. He'd been in the throne room with Jian Chin when the trap was sprung; from his clothing and appearance, he was probably Ilook the waterbender, who the guards had sometimes spoken of in nervous tones.

Ilook's eyes darted about the room and finally settled on Iroh, his grin broadening. "Leave us," he ordered. Both guards bowed hurriedly and left the room, the waterbender watching them out of the corner of his eye. When they were gone he shut the door, and then turned back to Iroh.

"Now it's just you and me, old man," he said softly, a feral light gleaming in the back of his eyes. "We're going to have a nice little chat, just the two of us. You're the one who came up with the trick that has Jian Chin trapped here. I must say it was clever of you, but no trap is perfect, and if anyone knows the way out of this one, it's you. You're going to tell me everything about it and so much more before we're through."

Iroh closed his eyes and looked as if he were giving the matter much thought, but then shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't help you," he said sadly. "You see, having been locked in a cell for days with nothing to eat and only a little bit to drink has left my throat dry and sore, and I really don't feel like talking for long right now. Now, if you were to have your men bring a hot meal and some tea- and maybe loosen these shackles a bit- I might be willing to reconsider."

The waterbender glared at him with narrowed eyes. "You think you're terribly clever, don't you old man?" Ilook asked softly. "But I've broken clever men before. This room has, too. It used to belong to the Dai Li, you know- they used it to break spies they caught in the palace, before sending them off to Lake Laogai to be remade. It's all in their records in the palace library- fascinating reading, if you can dig through all the bureaucratic nonsense it's buried in. They had all sorts of fancy tools to help them, but I don't need those. I have all the tools I need with me."

He held up one hand, and water rose up in a thin rope from one of the skins at his waist to wrap around it before freezing into a gleaming spike. Ilook studied it for a moment and then stepped forward, raising the weapon towards Iroh's face.

The Dragon of the West did not flinch as the icy spike lowered slowly towards him. Instead he merely breathed deeply and felt the energy build within him as if he were preparing to unleash the fiery breath for which he had once been famed. Instead of flame, however, all that he expelled was a blast of intensely hot air. The spike melted instantly in Ilook's head and the waterbender jumped backward, cursing loudly as the hot water spilled over him. Stumbling back against the wall, he raised a hand again and pulled the water off him and into a ball that hovered in the air while he glared murderously at his captive.

"You may find that I am not so easy to break," Iroh told him in a conversational tone.

"We will see about that," Ilook snarled. Reaching out, he took the globe of water and let it wrap around one hand until it formed a kind of transparent glove. The waterbender closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, and when he opened them again both glove and hand glowed with a softy light. If Iroh hadn't know better, he would have thought that he was about to witness the beginning of a healing, but he doubted that anything so merciful would come from this cruel man's hands. No, this must be a technique that caused harm in some way, even if it was one that Iroh, who had studied waterbenders far more closely than most firebenders did, had never seen.

Ilook was chuckling softly as he approached, raising his hand. Before it could touch Iroh's flesh, however, the old general shot out a hand as far as his chains would allow him to reach and caught the waterbender's wrist. Ilook struggled to pull away, and then snarled and pushed the energy he was holding down Iroh's arm. The old firebender felt searing pain, but only for a moment; energy was energy, regardless of what element gave birth to it, and if he was not mistaken, a certain move he'd developed years ago might come in very handy here. Carefully he took hold of the energy and began to direct it down his arm- at once the pain vanished, replaced by a sensation of tingling power. Ilook's eyes widened and he tried to pull away, but he couldn't escape Iroh's tight grip

The firebender felt the energy pass through his stomach and up his other arm- less precisely controlled than it would have been if he'd had both hands free, but controlled nonetheless. As it reached the tip of his fingers, Iroh twisted his hand so it pointed at Ilook and let the energy go at the same moment he released the waterbender's grip.

Ilook screamed and stumbled backwards as his own attack hit him. It was greatly weakened without the water to act as a channel, but it was still enough that he found it distinctly uncomfortable. The waterbender stumbled back against the wall, twitching, and finally pulled himself back up to his feet. There was hate in his glare still, but behind it was something else as well- fear. Iroh shook his head sadly. Even though he'd been a soldier most of his life, he still disliked it whenever he had to hurt someone, even someone as twisted as Ilook.

"What are you?" the younger man asked finally, his voice hoarse.

"Just an old man who's seen too much suffering," was Iroh's reply.

Ilook lowered his head, and when he spoke again his voice was an almost petulant whine. "You're not afraid of me at all, are you?"

Iroh shook his head again. "I do not fear you," he said, "but if your pleasure comes from knowing the fear and pain of others, then I can honestly say that I pity you."

The waterbender's jaw worked, but no sound came out. Finally he pulled himself up to his full height and glared at Iroh with a feral gleam in his eyes. "Pretty words," he spat. "So you don't fear me, do you? Then it won't be me that breaks you! Let's see how you'll like hanging on that table for days, alone in the dark? We'll see if you're so unflappable then!" Pausing briefly to spit in Iroh's direction, he yanked the door open and stalked out into the hallway, slamming it shut behind him as he shouted new orders at the guards. After that… silence.

Iroh shrugged and shifted on the table, doing his best to get comfortable.

* * *

Though Aang had seen Ba Sing Se several times now, and at one point actually stayed there for several weeks, it always amazed him how simply _huge_ the city was. Instinctively, he knew that Omashu and other cities were large as well, but there was just something overwhelming about the way Ba Sing Se sprawled, especially from above. Aang didn't particularly care for the city- it was so different from the Air Nomad way of life even without the unpleasant memories of the Dai Li added in- but he had to admit that it was impressive.

Something about it was also wrong. He could see the people below in the Outer Ring going about their business, but there was a kind of tension that hung over the place more intense than had been there even during Long Feng's rule. When they passed over the Mid Ring, then, there were suddenly no people at all.

"Where is everybody?" Aang asked aloud.

"I don't know," Katara said, "but I don't like it. Do you think Jian Chin's already taken over Ba Sing Se?"

"I don't think so," Sokka added as he looked over Appa's saddle. "If a city is occupied, it should be full of enemy soldiers- but I don't see any of them anywhere. There's something fishy going on here- I don't know what it is, but I don't think Ba Sing Se's been conquered."

"Neither do I," Suki said. "Maybe if we go deeper in, we can get some answers in the Inner Ring?"

"I hope so," Aang told her. Tugging on Appa's reins, he guided the bison towards the center of the city and the huge palace that loomed above it. As they crossed the final wall into the Inner Ring, however, the appearance of the situation changed again. This part of the city was swarming with soldiers and some civilians who had the overly-muscled look of earthbenders, all of them milling about but looking warily towards the palace. They pointed up and shouted as they saw Appa pass overhead, but then returned to their nervous watching when he had passed.

"It's like they're all waiting for something," Katara observed.

"Let's talk to someone and find out what," Aang said. Finding a wide avenue, he guided Appa down to a landing in it. Almost as soon as the bison's feet touched the ground, the Avatar had leaped from his back and on to the street; behind him he could hear his friends doing the same, and he smiled at Toph's contented sigh and being back in contact with the ground again.

Turning, Aang saw a group of soldiers hurriedly approaching; when they were close, they all dropped down on one knee. "Avatar," the officer in charge said, "Thank the spirits that you have finally come!"

"Well, I hope I can help you," Aang said. "Can you tell me what's going on here?"

The officer stood, his expression dark. "Come with me," he said, motioning towards the group. "General How will explain." Aang looked back at his friends and shrugged, but followed the officer and his men through the streets of the Inner Ring. Finally they arrived at their destination, and the Avatar started when he realized it was Iroh's Jasmine Dragon tea shop.

The officer approached the shop's entrance and bowed, then motioned for Aang and his companions to go inside. The tea shop had seemingly been converted into a military headquarters; officers were moving about and conferring with each other inside, and General How himself sat at a table against the wall, reading a scroll. When he saw Aang his weary eyes brightened and he stood to offer a bow.

"Thank you for coming, Avatar," he said. "We feared that without you, we might be forced to… well, it's not important anymore."

"What's not important?" Aang asked. "Will someone please tell me what's going on here?"

"Yeah," Toph said from behind him. "This is Iroh's place, but I don't feel him around here anywhere. Where is he?"

General How sighed deeply. "Sit down, please, all of you," he said. "Our situation here requires some explanation…"


	21. Chapter 20: Convergence

**Chapter 20: Convergence**

Twice before, Azula had come to Ba Sing Se. The first time had been nearly two years ago, when the War still ground on and her father was still Fire Lord; that day, she had done what her uncle had failed to do and taken the city, though her army had consisted only of Mai and Ty Lee, and her chief weapon had been nothing more than her own keen wit.

The second time had been just a little more than a month ago, when she had come reluctantly to seek Iroh's advice in the search for her mother. That time she had stayed only briefly, remaining within the walls only long enough to pick up the information she needed- and also, it later appeared, an old enemy in the form of Long Feng.

Now, though, there was something wrong with the city- Azula could tell that from where she stood on a rock overlooking it. She could see the gaping hole in the Wall from here, but it was more than that. A sense of tense waiting hung over the whole scene, pent-up violence just waiting to burst out. She could almost smell it, and wondered idly if this was anything like what Ty Lee's uncanny spiritual intuition felt like.

As if that thought had summoned her, the acrobat stepped forward to stand beside the princess. "Something bad's going to happen," she said in a quiet voice. Azula turned to look at her, and realized that she looked slightly ill. "I can feel it. That spirit you told us about- he's here, and he's not happy, and that's messing everything up all around him."

"Are you going to be all right?" Azula asked.

Ty Lee managed a weak smile. "Sure. It'll just take me a bit to get used to it."

"Good." The acrobat's words confirmed what Azula had already suspected- this was going to end here, at Ba Sing Se, and end soon. It was appropriate, in an ironic way, the princess though. She would face her greatest challenge here at the scene of her greatest triumph, and conquer or be destroyed. There were no other options anymore, if there ever had been. Though Azula hated to admit it, she knew she could fight her way through Jian Chin's army and then take on the spirit-possessed warlord himself on her own- she was going to need all the help she could get.

Footsteps sounded behind them, and the two girls turned to see Ursa and Shin approach. "What's going on?" the captain asked, all business. "Can you tell if the city's been taken?"

"I don't know," Azula told him. "Ty Lee thinks that Zhan Zheng is inside, which means that Jian Chin probably is as well, and I can't imagine any other reason for that- the warlord may be powerful, but he is hardly subtle." She turned to look back at Ba Sing Se. "In any event, he doesn't have enough soldiers to police the whole city, and there aren't any more Dai Li to take advantage of. I think we should go take a look and see if we can get a better idea of what's going on."

Shin looked dubious, but before he could say anything Ursa pointed at the sky. "What is that?" she asked. "There's something up there- but it's not any bird I've ever seen before."

Azula turned to look in the direction her mother was pointing, shading her eyes with one hand. Sure enough, there was something there, coming closer- and her eyes widened when she realized what it was. "That, mother," she said, "is a Fire Nation airship, something we invented while you were gone. And if I'm reading that glint of gold on the prow right, it's the _Royal_ airship to boot."

"Royal?" Ursa's eyes widened. "Zuko!"

"Most likely," Azula said. "So everything is coming together now," she added in an undertone. "I wonder if the Avatar is down there as well? Old friends, and old enemies. Not that there's much difference, in my case."

Shin turned to look at the airship as well, eyes narrowing. "It looks like the airship his headed directly for the city. If Jian Chin _is_ in there, the Fire Lord may not know what he's flying into."

Ursa spun to face him. "Then we need to get to him," she said, eyes flashing. "If my son tries to fight Jian Chin without knowing what power backs him, he'll die."

Shin sighed and shook his head, looking from mother to daughter. "Then it appears Ba Sing Se is our course," he said. "I just hope we don't all end up rotting in Jian Chin's prison."

"Then we'll just have to be careful," Ursa and Azula said almost simultaneously- mother and daughter shot each other surprised and wryly amused looks. Then Ursa turned and slipped down the rock towards the city, with the others following closely behind her.

Every so often Azula's gaze darted up to the approaching airship, though she forced herself to stay focused on the task at hand. It was not enough, however, to fool Ty Lee, who started looking at her with concern. "You know, you thought I was having trouble earlier," the acrobat said, "but now you're not looking so good yourself. Is something the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter," Azula told her. Ty Lee shrugged and turned her gaze back towards Ba Sing Se, but the princess knew that her words had been a lie. She hadn't expected to be running into Zuko so soon after establishing her fragile equilibrium with her mother, and she didn't know how Zuzu's addition to the whole mess would complicate matters. She was only certain that they would, and Azula hated complications she couldn't predict, especially in this case.

She shook herself. She couldn't change things just by worrying about them, and there were more pressing concerns at the moment than her family issues. Focusing her attention towards Ba Sing Se, Azula began mentally preparing herself for battle.

* * *

"How could you let this happen?' Zuko demanded of General How as he paced back and forth in Iroh's tea shop. The Fire Lord was clearly in a towering temper over how the situation had been handled, not the least because of the current predicament of his uncle. After arriving about an hour ago and getting the whole story, he'd begun alternating between trying to rush off to the palace and save Iroh himself and snarling at the Earth Kingdom general for allowing Iroh to get himself captured in the first place. Aang winced sympathetically- it had been a long time since he'd had that temper turned on him, but he could still remember it. Certainly Zuko had calmed down a great deal since the War ended, but clearly a threat to the person who'd been the closest thing he'd ever had to a loving father was enough to bring that side of him out again.

"If you'll forgive me for saying so, Fire Lord," How replied, "I was following your Uncle's plan, not my own inclinations. I wasn't any happier about it than you were, but it appears to have worked- Jian Chin has been stalled in the palace ever since he took it."

"I know," Zuko said, sighing and turning away. "I just don't like this at all. Uncle may be the greatest firebender in the world, but he's an old man and he's trapped inside there with that _thing_." He nodded towards the window and then looked back at the general. "But no matter what happens, you're _not_ going to seal the Palace up. We're going to go in and find a way to stop Jian Chin and we're going to get Uncle and the Earth King out safely. Got it?"

How nodded. "I believe that this is what General Iroh intended- a delaying tactic to allow help to arrive or an alternate plan to be conceived. I believe both have happened now, though," he glanced over at the table where Sokka was bent over a piece of paper and furiously writing, "I must question the wisdom of certain alternative strategies that have been proposed."

The young Water Tribe warrior looked up and scowled. "You're just jealous because you didn't come up with the idea to stop Jian Chin with an airship, some of Mai's knives, and Momo," he said proudly.

"Yeah, because that sounds completely sensible," the girl whose favored weapon had been mentioned said from where she stood in a corner of the room.

Sokka shrugged. "What can I say?" he asked. "You want to fight a spirit, you've got to think outside the box."

"Well, you might want to get a _little_ closer to the old box, Mr. Creative Thinker," Toph put in.

"Well, someone has to be the idea guy," Sokka said. "I'm not seeing you coming up with anything here."

Growling under his breath, Aang stood up and held up his hands. "Everybody, calm down," he said. "We're not going to get anywhere if we keep arguing. Jian Chin and Zhan Zheng are tough, but we can do this. It's like the Fire Nation drill- big tough things always have weak spots, and we just need to find them."

At that moment one of General How's aides rushed in and whispered something in the general's ear. His eyes widened, and excusing himself with a bow he ducked out of the tea shop. "The problem is, Aang," Katara said when he was gone, "we don't know what the weak spots _are_, or how to find them. How do we fight something like this?"

Aang slumped back into his seat, head bowed. "I don't know," he said softly. "Right now, I just don't. Even if Iroh's plan to bury the palace killed Jian Chin, the spirit would just find a new body." He shook his head. "I'm the Avatar- I'm supposed to help people solve their problems, not just sit here and do nothing."

The door opened again, and General How returned. "Avatar, Fire Lord," he said, and there was a strange note in his voice, "my men have just brought up some travelers they found outside the city and… well, you should see for yourself."

He stepped aside and three Fire Nation soldiers entered, one of them an officer. Aang didn't recognize any of them, but Zuko apparently did- his eyes widened and darted towards the door in time to see a weary looking girl with large, expressive eyes and a long brown braid enter. This person was familiar to everyone in the room, and when Ty Lee saw who was there, she gave a broad, cheery smile and a wave. Behind her came Azula.

Even though it had been more than a year and a half since she'd been an active enemy, the whole room tensed as the Fire Princess entered. She too was tired-looking and dressed in travel-stained clothes, but she still held herself with the easy, deadly grace Aang had become all too familiar with during the War. As her gold eyes swept the room, however, it was obvious that she had changed- there was a haunted look in them, and a depth of weariness that Aang had never seen in her before, but also a flash of purpose as well. A long, jagged scar that had not been there before ran along one cheek.

"All right," Suki said from across the room, standing and resting a hand on one of her war fans. "What is _she_ doing here?" The leader of the Kyoshi warriors had once spent several months as Azula's prisoner- she had even less love than most of them for Fire Lord Ozai's daughter.

"What am I doing?" Azula asked coldly. "Perhaps I'm here to offer you all my help. More to the point," here her gaze shifted to Zuko, "I'm returning someone who was lost."

She stepped aside, and an older woman entered, her features similar enough to both Zuko and Azula that Aang had no trouble figuring out who she was, though her features bore a weight of sadness rather than her son's scars or her daughter's arrogance and cruelty. Zuko was on his feet in an instant, mouth open wide, while Azula gave a wry half-smile, Ty Lee beamed, and even Mai showed signs of surprise.

"Mom," was all the Fire Lord managed to say before he hurried across the room and wrapped the Lady Ursa in a tight embrace.

"Nice," Toph said.

* * *

Some time later, Azula stood outside of the tea shop and looked at the door with an expression that might be described a wistful longing. She had ducked out moments after Zuko and Mother had pulled away from each other and started talking- this was somewhere where she could tell she had no place. Once she would have resented Zuko for that and hated him in the same way she'd hated anyone who'd had something she couldn't, but now she just felt sad, tired, and alone. Once she would have even tried to find a way to ignore those feelings, or else blame their causes on others, but now she understood that so much that had hurt her in her life came directly or indirectly from her own hand. If she wasn't as close to Ursa as Zuzu was, it was because she had spent her childhood clinging to her father and learning tyranny from his knee. A few weeks wasn't enough to repair the damage.

"Standing out here alone too?" a quiet voice asked. "I wonder why."

Azula turned slowly to see Mai shutting the door behind her. "I don't do overly-sentimental reunions," she said dismissively. "I take it you're not interested in it either?"

"I'll say hi later," Mai said. "You know I'm not one who goes for that kind of thing." She turned and looked towards the palace, standing silently for several quiet moments. "Why did you do it?" she asked finally.

"Do what?"

Mai turned to face her. "You know what I'm talking about," she said. "Why did you find your mom and bring her back?"

"Perhaps because it's what I set out to do when I left the Fire Nation?" Azula asked.

"Since when did promises ever mean anything to you?" Mai replied. "I thought you probably just did it so you'd have an excuse to get out of the Fire Nation so you wouldn't have to see it ruled by the brother you hated."

"I did it because I thought it's what I needed to fix what was wrong in my head," Azula said in a quiet, fierce voice. "On the way- well, let's just say I wound up having to rethink a lot of things." One hand strayed to her scar, and Mai glanced at it with an expression of mild interest.

"So you've got a scar now too," she said. "Maybe that's enough to make you change, but I'm not calling it until I actually see that you're different."

Both girls fell silent for several more moments, until Azula spoke. "You hate me now, don't you?" she asked flatly.

Mai turned to look at her head on. "No," she said. "I did for awhile, back after you left me and Ty Lee to rot in prison, but I don't any more. Hating people takes a lot of effort, and I decided that you weren't worth it. Once you were my friend, then my enemy. Now I don't feel about you one way or the other."

"Ty Lee forgave me," Azula pointed out.

"Ty Lee likes _everybody_- I'd have thought you'd have noticed that," Mai said. "But for me, forgiveness takes effort too. Someday I might, if you do something to earn it that I can see. It takes more than one good deed and saying you're sorry to make up for everything you did."

Now Azula's gaze turned towards the palace and the enemy that waited inside, her eyes hard and cold. "We'll see about that," she said.

* * *

"I was Jian Chin's captive for years," Ursa said, "and it didn't take me long to learn how he thinks. He's arrogant, powerful and cruel, but he has no imagination- if he sees a problem, his first and generally only thoughts for how to deal with it are to smash it or wait it out. If he has a weakness, that is it, but I don't know how much the spirit has been able to compensate for that."

His mother's return had re-energized Zuko, and by extension the whole group. The two had spent some time reminiscing and telling each other what had happened to them over the last several years- Ursa's eyes had flashed dangerously even as her hand went to Zuko's face as he recounted the story of his scar, while the Fire Lord's fist had clenched as he learned about his mother's captivity under Jian Chin. Once it became apparent that she possessed information the group could use, however, Ursa seemed to fix herself on helping them before all else. Aang could tell that now that she had been reunited with her family, the noblewoman's main goal was to see Jian Chin fall. Azula had slipped out early on; Mai had followed to keep an eye on her, but nobody seemed interested in dragging the princess inside if she wanted to be elsewhere.

"Yeah, the spirit's the problem," Sokka said. "It's what's been stumping me- if Aang and Katara say it's there, I believe them, but you can't cut something like that with a sword or blow it up with machines or bending. I hate to admit it, but this is out of my league."

Ursa turned to look at Aang. "I have heard stories about how you defeated my former husband, Avatar," she said. "Could you do something similar to remove Zhan Zheng from the warlord's body?"

Aang looked down at his lap. "I tried," he said, "but he was too strong. Maybe I could bend Zhan Zheng if it was just him, but I had to take on two spirits at once or else get overwhelmed. This isn't the sort of thing you can really practice."

"Then maybe, Avatar, you need to change the rules," a cool voice said from the doorway. All eyes turned to see Azula standing there, her eyes fixed on Aang. "If you'll hear me out, I might have an idea."

"And we should trust you _why_, again?" Suki asked.

"Yeah," Toph said. "The only think I want from Princess Psycho here is a rematch. She probably wants to see this Zhan Zheng thing eat you for dinner, Twinkeltoes."

Azula's eyes flashed. "Say what you will about me," she said, "but I do not want that spirit to have anything. It's tried to use me or kill me several times now, and that's nothing compared to what it has planned for the world. I don't want that, and neither do you. You don't have any good ideas, and I'm offering one. It's in your best interest to listen up."

The rest of the group looked unconvinced, glancing from Azula to her family to Aang and back again. Finally Ursa spoke. "I can't speak for when you knew Azula, but she risked her life to bring me out of Jian Chin's fortress. If my daughter has a plan, I think you should hear it out."

"She has changed," Ty Lee said, "really!"

Zuko looked down at his hands, and then up at his friends. "Azula did help me and Aang take down General Azun and his rebels. I don't know if I'll like her plan or not, but I think I owe it to her to listen."

"I agree," Aang said, then looked from the Fire Lord to his sister. "All right, Azula. What's your idea?"

Azula told it, and the room fell quiet. The silence was finally broken by Toph, who whistled and said "Wow. You really _are_ crazy." There was faint, grudging respect in her voice.

Katara looked from the princess to Aang. "You can't seriously be considering this," she said. "I mean, I'll buy that maybe Azula's not as nasty as she used to be, but I don't think this is smart at all."

"It's the only chance you have," Azula said. "The only chance any of us has. Jian Chin can't be overcome by brute force, and outwitting him is like outwitting an avalanche- it's easy enough, but it accomplishes nothing. Even if you kill him somehow, Zhan Zheng will survive and move on. You need to attack the spirit itself, and to do that you need me."

"Why you?" Katara asked, rising to her feet. "It's not your reasoning that bothers me- it's _you._ Why does it have to be you doing this? I get why it can't be Aang, but I'd do it for him in a heartbeat!"

"Would you?" Azula asked, seeming darkly amused. "And wouldn't that be interesting. But I'm the one Zhan Zheng wants- the only one who can trick it into doing this without thinking it through. It has to be me."

"Yeah, but we only have your word that it cares that much about you," Sokka said. "And I seem to remember that you lie _really_ well."

Azula's eyes bored into them all. "You'll have to trust me," she said. "If I'm lying, you haven't made the situation substantially worse. If I'm not, it may be the only way to win. You have to decide which."

"It's your call, Aang," Zuko said after a long pause.

"I still don't like it," Katara said, "but I agree that it's up to you."

Aang looked at Azula hard, trying to make up his mind. He didn't like this any more than the others did, and there was certainly part of him that didn't trust Azula at all, but if he turned her down he might be throwing away his one chance to defeat the spirit of War. Beyond that, though, the Avatar was basically a kindhearted person, and he believed in second chances. Trusting Zuko had set off the chain of events that led to the defeat of Ozai- maybe trusting Azula could do the same here.

"All right," he said finally. "We'll do it, tomorrow."

Everyone in the room stared at Aang, and even Azula seemed somewhat surprised. "I hope this isn't a mistake," Katara finally said.

"So do I," Aang said under his breath.

* * *

Their plans laid, the group split up, its various members being led by military guides to buildings near the palace, where they could rest and prepare for tomorrow's assault on it. Azula was the last to leave, standing back in the tea shop and watching the others go. Finally she turned to leave herself, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Zuko.

"What do you want, Zuzu?" she asked him. "I imagine this is where you threaten to incinerate me if I do anything to hurt your friend the Avatar? You don't need to."

"No," Zuko said, shaking his head. "Mom told me what you went through, to get her out of there- she said you were half dead when you fought Jian Chin, and that fight nearly did you in. You didn't have to do that, but you did it anyway. I'm not ready to put everything between us to rest, but for this I'd just like to say thank you." Then he pulled away and was gone.

"Well," Azula finally muttered to herself, "maybe things can change after all." Then she turned and walked off to find one of the guest houses for herself. She needed to be rested, because tomorrow was going to require all of her strength to survive.


	22. Chapter 21: At the Conquered Palace

**Chapter 21: At the Conquered Palace**

Jian Chin awoke suddenly and without warning. He'd fallen asleep on his stolen throne the night before, where he'd sat brooding. So far Ilook was having a disappointing lack of success in interrogating Iroh, and that combined with his own inability to act had put the warlord in a foul mood. He hadn't slept well, and he didn't think for long, but now he suddenly felt himself completely refreshed and alert. Jian Chin could think of only one explanation for that.

"Well, spirit?" he growled at the empty throne room. "What is it now?"

_It seems that we are about to face battle, _the cold voice whispered in his mind. _A group of warriors- Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation- assembles outside the palace. It is not large, but it is led by deadly enemies. The Avatar is there, and his closest companions- and more than that Azula is with them as well._

"What?' Jian Chin asked. "That doesn't make any sense. Are you certain about this?"

_I am War, mortal_, Zhan Zheng hissed. _When soldiers gather, I know. I believe they have some plan to dethrone you, but if you play it right, you could turn it to your advantage. _

"What should I do?"

_Do not engage them directly, at least not at first- to advance so boldly they no doubt have some means of countering our powers, or think they do. At any rate, such a gathering of formidable benders could prove difficult for even us to defeat. Let your men wear them down first, then emerge to strike the killing blow. With the Avatar and the Fire Lord both dead before you, the Earth Kingdom's resolve will crumble, and the world will be yours for the taking!_

"Yes!" Jian Chin snarled. "Any other advice, spirit?"

_Yes. They will no doubt seek to free the Earth King and General Iroh from imprisonment. The King is a powerful symbol, if little else, as is Iroh, and Fire Lord Zuko is inordinately fond of his uncle on top of that. Remove them to the lowest levels of the palace and put them under heavy guard until this is over. After that, it won't matter anymore. _The spirit voice fell silent.

Jian Chin arose and strode to the great doors. Thrusting them open, he motioned for his guards. "Send for Xang and Ilook," he rumbled. "I require their services."

"Yes, my lord," the guards said, bowing and hurrying off. Jian Chin returned to his throne and sat there waiting for several minutes until the doors opened again and his second in command strode in, followed closely by the waterbender. Ilook had been out of sorts ever since his botched attempt at interrogating Iroh, and Xang had been forced to take measures to keep him from "practicing" on their own soldiers in his spare time. Jian Chin had never considered himself a particularly observant man- what did it matter what people thought and felt, after all, so long as they did what he told them to?- but even he recognized that there was tension simmering between his two most important followers. He decided it would be best for all concerned if he ended this quickly.

"You summoned us, my lord?" Xang asked, all business.

"Is there something you need taking care of?" Ilook put in, a trace of his smile playing on his lips. "I could use some diversion."

Jian Chin ignored him. "I have just been informed that we are about to face an attack from no one less than the Avatar himself and his closest companions. If we break them here, then our ultimate victory is assured. Xang, you will take the bulk of my forces onto the palace grounds and hold them, while I gather my strength to dispatch them utterly."

Xang looked dubious, but saluted anyway- whatever his doubts, what he had seen over the last few weeks had convinced him that there could be no stopping the creature that Jian Chin had become. "Very well, my lord," he said. "My men and I will do as you command."

"And what about me?" Ilook asked. "What role does the great Jian Chin have in mind for me?"

The warlord turned his gaze on the waterbender. "You will take my strongest earthbenders and stand guard on General Iroh and the Earth King. It is likely that the Avatar will send his strongest benders to free them- if they make it past the ordinary soldiers, I will require you to prevent that."

"Strongest benders," Ilook said thoughtfully. "Do you think the waterbender girl will be there? Oh, how I'd like to find out who trained her- and show her that no traditional waterbender can match me in combat."

"It is possible," Jian Chin rumbled, "but you will do this regardless. If you fail me and survive, I will crush you where you stand. Understood?"

"Yes, my lord" the waterbender said in a sullen voice.

"Then go, both of you, and carry out your duties. Perform them well, and after today the world is as good as ours!"

Xang and Ilook both saluted and then departed to find their respective commands. Jian Chin smiled as he watched them go, and then settled back into his stolen throne to wait. This was a moment not unlike the time when his illustrious predecessor, Chin the Great, had prepared himself to face Avatar Kyoshi- today it would be decided whether or not he would stand or fall.

Unlike the ancient conqueror, Jian Chin had no intention of falling, to the Avatar or to any foe. He could feel the power of Zhan Zheng in his limbs, and he could almost taste victory.

* * *

Zuko had been kind enough to provide Azula with a new suit of Fire Nation armor, a fact which she still found somewhat surprising as she pulled her dark hair back into a topknot and tied it off. That done, she paused to study herself in the guest-house's full length mirror and found herself surprisingly unnerved by the image. Clad in the black and gold royal armor and finally clean again after weeks of travel, she found herself looking remarkably like she had at the height of her power- but there were some things that showed this for the illusion it was. Her topknot was not adorned by the small flame hair-piece that signified her position as a princess of the high blood; the scar along her face was unmistakably visible; there was a weary, haunted look in her eyes that had not been there before. No matter what happened today, she could not hide that she was no longer the person she had been.

Checking herself one final time, Azula turned and left the guest house. She could see the Avatar and his friends already gathering outside- most of them gave her cool nods as she approached. Casting her glance about, she saw Zuko in his royal armor with Mai in her usual dark robes at his side; the Avatar himself stood off to one side, stroking the flying lemur that sat on his shoulder and talking softly with the waterbender girl. Azula let her gaze fall on each of them in turn, until finally she found one of the people she was looking for- Ty Lee. Of the other, her mother, there was no sign.

The acrobat was talking to Suki, a look of innocence on her face that was so deliberate it almost made the princess chuckle. Slipping quietly closer, she listened in and was able to determine that Ty Lee was asking, with an air of feigned disinterest, if it would be possible for a Kyoshi Warrior who lost her weapons and uniform to get new ones.

Finally, Suki just shook her head. "All right, Ty Lee," she said. "What happened?"

"Well," the acrobat said, fidgeting, "they're kind of at the bottom of the ocean a really long way away. I left them on our ship, and the Dai Li sank it. You, ah, wouldn't happen to have spares, would you?"

Suki put her hands on her hips. "Ty Lee," she said in a tone of deadly mock-seriousness, "do you think I would travel across half a continent just to bring gear for a warrior careless enough to lose it in the first place?" The acrobat looked crestfallen, but Suki smiled. "Don't worry. We can get you a new uniform back on the island. I was just teasing you."

"Fans and sword too?" Ty Lee asked. "I mean, I didn't really think I was that good with them, but they kind of complete the look and all, and I really think I should have them."

Suki smiled at her. "Fans and sword too," she said, then seemed to regret it almost immediately as Ty Lee beamed and wrapped her in a tight hug. Azula couldn't resist giving a small smile as she turned away.

Her eyes widened as she saw the next group that approached. Captain Shin and his men were there, along with the elite firebenders Zuko had brought with him, but walking among them was none other than Ursa, dressed like both her children in royal armor. Azula raised an eyebrow at the sight of her. "Going into battle, Mother?" she asked. "I didn't think you were the type."

"I may not have seen much action since I was only a little older than you," Ursa replied, "but I still remember my training, and I can still bend. I'm not letting both my children risk their lives today while I stand on the sidelines and do nothing."

They both stood quietly facing each other for several moments, and then Azula lowered her head. "Good luck," she said quietly, knowing that her part in this battle was going to take her far from where Ursa would be fighting.

Her flicker of surprise crossed her mother's face, but then she returned the bow. "And good luck to you," she said.

Across the square, General How approached, accompanied by a team of his elite earthbenders. Since the battle itself was mostly going to be a distraction to allow Aang and Azula to reach Jian Chin, he wasn't going to commit his full forces to it, holding them in reserve if it became apparent that the desperate strategy would fail.

"Avatar," the General said, approaching Aang, "I don't know how, but Jian Chin seems to be on to us. He's gathered most of his forces around the palace steps- they may not be large by the standards of armies, but they'll be enough to hold that tight space for a good while. It may prove difficult to break through."

"That's what we're here for," Zuko said, stepping forward with a hand on his swords. "If Jian Chin thinks he can keep us from getting Aang and the others in, we'll just have to fight even harder."

"I hope so," How said. "Do you have anything to say, either of you?"

Aang stepped forward. "Does everybody know what they're supposed to do? Zuko, you're going to lead most everyone in taking on Jian Chn's army so that they'll be too busy to mess with us in the palace." The Fire Lord nodded once. "Toph, you're going to barrel me, you Katara, and Azula through the enemy soldiers as fast as you can so that we can all get into the palace quickly."

"The palace is one big block of rock; that's right up my alley," the blind earthbender said. "I've got it covered."

"Glad to hear it," Aang said, smiling at her. "When you're inside, you and Katara need to go straight for the prison cells and find Iroh and the Earth King. We need to get them out of there before Jian Chin decides to hurt them, and you're two of our best benders." Zuko had wanted to be one of the ones to go in for Iroh, but he was a tempting enough target that too many enemy soldiers would pursue him into the palace, and the firebenders would fight better with their leader on hand.

"We're ready, Aang," Katara said.

"Then me and Azula will head for Jian Chin and end this," Aang finished. Reaching up to his shoulder, he patted Momo on the head. "You'd better get out of here," he told the lemur. "This could get pretty nasty, and I don't want you to get hurt." Momo chattered and flew off.

"All right, then!" Sokka said, stepping up. "We've got out battle-plan, now let's get to this!" Resting one hand on his sword, he struck a pose clearly intended to look heroic, and Azula had to admit that for once, for a Water Tribe peasant he almost succeeded. Glancing at Suki, she could see the Kyoshi Warrior smile fondly even as she rolled her eyes.

Without further word, the group turned and began to march towards the palace- Aang and Zuko took the lead, with their companions near them. Azula herself hung back, having no desire to spend any more time in her former enemies' company than she absolutely had to. Besides, she needed to prepare herself mentally for what she was about to attempt- if she got it wrong, things could go very badly for her indeed.

A hand touched her shoulder and the princess looked up, expecting to see her mother or maybe Ty Lee. Instead, it was Katara, the Avatar's waterbender girlfriend. She was looking at Azula with blue eyes that looked almost like they could be chips of ice. The princess found herself involuntarily shuddering, remembering the last time the two of them had been this close, and the humiliation that had ended in for her.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Look," Katara said. "I know you say you've changed, and I'm not sure I believe it or not. Zuko did, but you- I don't know yet. But just in case you haven't, if you do anything in there to hurt Aang, you'll have to deal with me afterwards. Do you understand? "

"Yes," Azula replied. "I think I do. Rest assured that your concerns are unfounded. Zhan Zheng is my enemy as much as yours. I wouldn't betray even my worst enemy to it, if only because I wouldn't want to give the thing the satisfaction."

"Good," Katara said. "I hope you mean that. If this works, you'll have my apology for what I said. If it doesn't- well, remember I said it."

"I will."

* * *

The Earth King's palace was a walled complex that was built to be large and impressive, and those were two things it succeeded at quite well. Though Azula would always favor the angular towers of the Fire Nation palace, she did have to admit that the building that was the Earth Kingdom's beating heart utterly dominated the Inner Ring and, by extension, Ba Sing Se itself. As a fortress, it looked even stronger, but Azula knew from personal experience that no fortress was impregnable. One only needed to know its weak spots.

The small army halted just outside the palace gates, and Aang stepped forward. "Soldiers of Jian Chin," he called up, "I'm the Avatar, and my friends and I are here to take this palace back for the Earth Kingdom. I want to give you a chance to please surrender."

The only response was a pair of large boulders that came hurling over the wall and flew straight at Aang. The young Avatar raised his staff and spun it, sending a cone of air shooting towards the two giant projectiles, sending both veering off course so that they landed harmlessly in the nearby gardens.

"I don't think they want to surrender," Sokka observed.

"I think you're right," Aang said. "Toph, I think this is your thing."

"On it," the blind earthbender said, striking a fist against the palm of her hand as she stepped forward. She crouched in front of the gate and seemed to focus on the ground; Azula knew that some earthbenders had the power to sense things in the rock, though she didn't have the personal experience to know the precise mechanic behind it, and she knew that the blind girl was particularly good at it. Finally a small smile twitched on Toph's lips and she slammed one fist into the ground. The earth gave a shudder and everyone stumbled backwards, and then the palace gates blew off their hinges and clattered to the ground. General How groaned loudly.

"Aw, you can send the bill to House Bei Fong," Toph said, dusting her hands off as she backed up. "Dad's got so much money he won't even notice. Anyway, don't you have something you wanted to say, Sokka?"

"Yeah," the Water Tribe warrior said, stepping forward and drawing his sword. With a sweeping gesture he leveled the weapon at the broken gates and yelled "Charge!"

The small army surged through the broken gate, with the only response was more hurled boulders, which were easily dealt with by the earth and firebenders. Within the courtyard, however, Jian Chin's own forces stood between the attackers and the palace, weapons out and looking distinctly murderous.

"Katara, Toph, Azula!" Aang called. "I need you!" The three girls rushed forward to stand alongside the Avatar, Katara still looking uncomfortable at Azula's presence but apparently having accepted it. Toph stepped forward, planted her feet solidly, and raised her hands. Walls of rock shot up from the ground, completely surrounding the four powerful benders.

"Are you all ready to kick some butt?" Toph asked. "Then let's get going!" She pressed her hands against the rocky surface in front of her, and suddenly the whole conveyance shot forward, causing the other three to stumble backwards. From outside Azula could barely make out the muffled cursing of the enemy soldiers as they shot through them, and then it felt like the stone was rising at an angle. How long they were in there Azula couldn't guess, but finally Toph dropped the walls and they found themselves standing atop the steps of the main palace building. The sounds of battle rose from behind them.

"I don't like leaving my friends behind to fight like this," Aang said, looking back. "It just feels like I should be down there helping us."

"_They're_ helping _us_," Azula reminded him. "We cannot be distracted during our confrontation with Jian Chin and Zhan Zheng- that could be disastrous for all of us. That means we need them to keep the soldiers off our backs." He still looked somewhat troubled, but she shifted her gaze to Katara and Toph. "You know what to do next?"

"Yeah- we did listen, you know," Toph said. Getting down on one knee, she pressed a hand to the ground and concentrated. "I can feel that there's someone in the throne room, and people are moving around down at the prison level, but it's too far away for me to tell who they are or what's going on. Come on, Katara- I think we'd better get down there fast."

"You're probably right." Katara moved to follow Toph, but then spun back around and wrapped Aang in a tight embrace. "Be safe," Azula could clearly hear her whisper, and then the waterbender and the earthbender hurried off into a side door and from there to the depths of the palace.

"Well, Avatar," Azula said when they were gone, "it looks like it's just you and me now. What an odd team we are- and perhaps the most unlikely imaginable."

"You know, I think Zuko thought pretty much the exact same things after he first joined us," Aang said, smiling slightly. "You never know what's going to happen, but I think it's always going to be way weirder than what you thought it would be. Are you ready?"

"I am," Azula said. "Let's finish this."

Together, the Avatar and the Fire Princess turned and strode into the main hall of the palace, towards the throne room where Jian Chin waited.

And with him, Zhan Zheng.


	23. Chapter 22: The Earth Shakes

**Chapter 22: The Earth Shakes**

For the first time in what he was certain had been several days, Iroh's cell door swung open. The old firebender looked up with interest- while being locked alone in the dark had taken a certain degree of toll on him, it hadn't been nearly as much as Ilook had hoped, and he remained alert and capable of acting if he needed to. Indeed, he could probably have escaped with relative ease at any point, had he desired it, but he had decided instead that because Jian Chin was too strong for him to face directly, his efforts would be better served in waiting for an opportune moment to help take him down.

Something was now telling Iroh that such a moment was very close at hand.

One of Jian Chin's soldiers stepped inside, followed by another- these appeared quite professional in comparison to the others, and their uniforms did little to hide their bulging muscles. Iroh thought it most likely that they were earthbenders, and probably powerful ones at that. Nonetheless, he shot them both a cheerful smile. "Good morning, gentlemen," he said warmly. "Or is it afternoon already? I'm afraid I've lost track of time down here. Tell me, how is your master doing today?"

"Be quiet, old man," the first soldiers said, and motioned for his partner to then grab Iroh by the wrist and hold him tight as he unlocked the chains. Now holding the firebender by both arms, they marched him out into the hallway.

"Say," Iroh said, "would you mind telling me where we're going? I must admit, I'm curious."

"I said be quiet," the first soldier snapped. "You'll find out where we're going when we get there." They marched along in silence for several minutes, until they rounded a corner and came face-to-face with several more burly soldiers, one of whom was holding tightly to a morose-looking Earth King, and Ilook himself.

"You have him? Good," the waterbender said, though from his almost murmuring tone it seemed more that he was talking to himself than anyone else. "Wouldn't want any incidents, now would we? The boss wouldn't like that, especially not with the battle going on up above."

"Battle?" Iroh asked. "It would seem that destiny has finally caught up with Jian Chin."

"It is none of your concern, old man," Ilook snarled, eyes suddenly popping wide. He seemed about to spring, but then thought better of it and turned away, scowling and motioning at his men. "Follow me. Lord Jian Chin wants them away from the usual cells and under heavy guard. No matter what happens, we mustn't lose the prisoners- and if we do, I'll take it out of your hides. Understood?"

The soldiers nodded or gave muttered assent and followed the waterbender down the passageway. Iroh walked obediently in their grasp, but allowed a slight smile to play around his lips.

* * *

Jian Chin's forces stumbled backwards as they were forced apart by the dome of earth that carried Aang, Azula, Katara, and Toph inside, but after it passed they formed up ranks again. Zuko took a brief moment to wish his friends- and even his sister- good luck, before drawing his swords and charging towards the enemy.

Though the Fire Lord and his allies were outnumbered greatly, they far outstripped the backwater warlord's men in terms of skill. Most of these warriors had never had any formal training, and it showed- they had built their styles around remembering what they did in battles where they won and the other person didn't, and as such they could be dangerous but far more than that were sloppy. They certainly weren't prepared for a warrior who met them head on with fire and steel together.

Zuko's first opponent was a big man who carried a large warhammer with a stone head lightly in his hands. Grinning maliciously, he took a swing at his opponent's head, but the Fire Lord dodged back and brought his blades up, catching the hammer and wrenching it from the enemy soldier's hands. Zuko followed it up before the man had time to react with a flying kick that sent him sprawling backwards in the ranks so that he took several of his allies down with him. Several more soldiers lunged forward to take his place, but the Fire Lord spun his swords in a circle, sending a crescent of flame shooting out at them. Some of the men dodged; others just stumbled back from the fire or fell burning. All learned to keep their distance.

If they expected their comrades to bail them out, they were sadly mistaken. From the corner of his eye, Zuko could see that the other soldiers were quite thoroughly occupied. Ty Lee darted among them so quickly the eye had difficulty following her; every so often she would stop and take one of the soldiers with a series of quick jabs that left him collapsed limply on the ground and then would dart away, a target so agile that none of her enemies could hit her. Suki and Sokka fought as a team- the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors almost seemed to dance as she used her speed, agility, and precision to take down much larger and stronger opponents, so that as of yet she hadn't even needed to draw her sword; fans sufficed. Sokka fought using a combination of Water Tribe and Fire Nation techniques, mixed with a healthy dose of moves that were clearly improvised on the spot- though the style would have surely caused any of Zuko's own swordmasters to have a fit if they'd seen it, it was proving undeniably effective.

Elsewhere, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom soldiers engaged the warlord's troops with more conventional tactics- Zuko could see his mother and Captain Shin standing with the firebenders, sending blasts of flame arcing over the courtyard and into the enemy ranks. Mai was nowhere to be seen, but enemy soldiers who fell or were forced to drop their weapons by the sudden appearance of sharp knives shooting at them were a testament to her presence.

Zuko was suddenly forced to duck as a spiked ball on the end of a metal chain whistled past where his head had been. He spun to face a burly man who grinned wickedly as he brought his weapon up and began to spin it again. Zuko returned the smile and lunged forward, flame trailing from the edge of his swords; bringing them up in swift cut, he neatly severed his opponent's weapon into two parts. The enemy soldier stared at the smoking end of his chain rather stupidly for a brief moment, and then lunged forward with hands balled into fists. The Fire Lord ducked back, dodging one, two blows that either could have laid him out on their own, and then struck the man across the head with the hilt of one sword. He groaned, swayed, and collapsed to the ground.

Behind him, the other enemies didn't seem to be pressing the attack, though as Zuko glanced around he saw that all of his friends were still fighting. For a moment he wondered- and then he saw a tall, middle-aged man coming up from within the enemy ranks, a drawn sword in one hand. This one's uniform was better made and somewhat more elaborate than the others', and he held himself with greater dignity. As he approached Zuko, he saluted. "And so, you must be the young Fire Lord," the man said. "I am Xang, lieutenant to Jian Chin and commander of his forces." He gave a tight smile. "I'd heard you were skilled with the blade, and after I learned who all was taking part in this attack, I'd hoped I would have a chance to face you today. It seems I get my wish."

Zuko lunged forward, but Xang brought his own blade up and parried his strike, forcing the Fire Lord back. "You're good," Zuko admitted. "Good enough you could have fought for a real army, a real nation, or maybe carved out your own little province back where you came from. Why would you follow someone like Jian Chin, anyway?"

For a moment a dark look crossed Xang's features, something that to Zuko looked suspiciously like despair. "Jian Chin cannot be defeated," he said softly. "I will not allow myself to be consumed in a battle that cannot be one."

Zuko disengaged his blades and fell back into a crouch. "Then we duel," he said simply.

"We duel," Xang agreed, and then he lunged forward again. Curved Fire Nation blades met straight Earth Kingdom steel again in the palace of Ba Sing Se.

* * *

Katara hurried into the depths of the Earth King's palace, Toph slightly ahead. Every so often the blind earthbender would stop and seem to listen; the Water Tribe girl knew that she was checking for vibrations to get a more detailed picture than she could while running. "We're getting close," she finally said after one stop. "They're definitely moving Iroh and the Earth King, but we're catching up to them. There's someone else there too, but I'm not sure who he is. His heartbeat and breathing are funny." A confused expression briefly crossed Toph's face before morphing into one of simple determination. "Think you're ready for this?"

"You bet I am," Katara replied firmly. "Let's go."

Both girls set off down the corridor at a run- soon, they passed through a barred door that hung open and into a long hallway full of cells. Rounding a handful of corners, they came to a place where they could see several figures in the hallway ahead. "It's them!" Toph shouted, and coming to a halt she planted her feet firmly on the ground and made a shoving motion with both hands.

A wave of stone rose from the floor and shot down the hallway towards the guards. They spun around and raised their own hands, creating a counteracting wave of their own. When the two met, Toph's was stopped before it could seriously damage them, though the force from it was enough to send them stumbling back.

"All right," the little earthbender said, smiling. "Looks like these guys might be able to put up a fight after all. Time to show them why the Blind Bandit's the best!"

"If you'll keep the guards busy, I'll get the prisoners," Katara whispered to her.

Toph grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me." Down the hall, Katara could see the guards recovering; Toph motioned with her hands and dragged blocks of stone from the walls to fling at them as the waterbender rushed forward, spreading a sheet of ice in front of her so that she slid between the guards swiftly and easily.

Spinning around behind them, she saw the unmistakable forms of Iroh and the Earth King, restrained by more guards. "Katara," the retired general said as mildly as if they'd just met on the street, "and Toph too, if I'm not mistaken. It's good to see you both." Glancing at the guards holding him, he added, "and I'm very sorry, but I don't think we'll be needing your services any longer."

"What are you…" one of them started to say, but at that moment Iroh closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Katara could almost see the heat racing along his arms, and then both of the guards screamed and stumbled back, wringing burned hands. Both glared murderously at Iroh and planted their feet in earthbending stances, but he just shook his head at them with the air of a teacher expressing great disappointment in his students as he raised his hands to firebend. Katara decided that the old man could take care of himself without any help from her, as could Toph. The Earth King, however, had never fought a battle in his life, and the waterbender spun, looking for him.

"Not so fast, dear girl," a quiet voice with an underlying chuckle said. Katara turned to face it and saw the Earth King looking quite terrified with the remaining guards behind him and a thin whip of water wrapped around his throat. Holding the other end was the speaker, a lean, youngish man with a small smile playing around his lips. His features looked familiar, and after a moment Katara registered them.

"You're Jian Chin's waterbender," she said. "I saw you heal him after he fought Aang."

"Yes you did, and I saw you," he replied. "Very impressive you are, my dead. One wonders where a sweet girl like you learns such dangerous bending, yes?"

"Oh, not this again," Katara said, remembering the difficulty she'd had in starting her training in the chauvinistic Northern Water Tribe. "Let's just say I had a really good teacher. Now step away from the King, or I'll show you what else I learned."

"Really?" the man asked. "And wouldn't that be interesting. I am Ilook, and you must be the Avatar's waterbender, Katara. We are quite possibly the only two benders of are element currently in the Earth Kingdom, and here we stand in the same place, at the same time. It seems almost destined that we should do battle." His eyes hardened into icy chips. "You can have your King, girl- but first you must take him from me."

"We don't have time for this," one of the earthbenders said. Stepping forward, he shoved Ilook and his captive aside and dragged a rough boulder up from the floor. Giving it a solid punch, he shot it towards Katara.

The waterbender dodged nimbly aside and let the boulder pass harmlessly overhead- and then stopped to stare in horror as Ilook lunged forward, teeth bared in a snarl, and pressed a glowing hand to the earthbender's forehead. The man collapsed, screaming and writhing, while an almost animal look of ferocity crossed the enemy waterbender's face. "Do not stand between me and what I want, little man!" he snarled in a voice that barely seemed human. The other earthbenders fell backwards, fear and horror crossing their features.

Katara was barely aware of what she was doing, but somehow a water whip of her own shot from the skins at her side and barreled towards Ilook with incredible force. The madman was thrown off his feet and sent stumbling backwards, while his victim's screams quieted into softer, pained moans. The other waterbender pulled himself back to his feet, still holding on to the Earth King. There was murder in his eyes.

At that moment, Toph's voice rang out through the hallway. "Hey, did somebody drop this? Heads up!" The boulder that the earthbender guard had thrown at Katara came hurtling back, flying over the heads of Iroh and his guards as they dueled and bowling the enemy soldiers over before finally slamming into the wall, causing it to shake. Ilook took advantage of the distraction to tighten his grip on the King and then run down the hallway, shooting a finaly, challenging look at Katara.

"Go for him!" Toph shouted. "We can handle these losers fine on our own, but he's got the Earth King!"

"I'm on it," Katara said. "I don't know what that guy's deal is, but someone needs to stop him before he does some real damage. Looks like that's going to be me." Leaping lightly over the fallen guards, she ran down the corridor in pursuit of her enemy and his prisoner.

* * *

Azula and Aang encountered no resistance as they ran down the grand, sweeping corridor that led from the palace's front to the Earth King's throne room. It seemed that everyone was either fighting in the courtyard or else guarding the prisoners below, which meant that either Jian Chin was utterly unconcerned with personal security, or he _wanted_ his enemies to reach him. Azula knew that the first was true; even if the second was as well, she wasn't overly worried. She'd match her ability to plan against the warlord's any time; Zhan Zheng was the truly dangerous opponent.

Finally they came to the giant doors of the throne room; the last time Azula had been here, the doors had been beautifully decorated with gold and designs, but now they were blank stone. Jian Chin, she assumed, had torn off the originals when attacking the palace and replaced them with ones of his own creation. Nodding and drawing a deep breath, the princess took a step towards the doors, only to feel a hand on her arm.

"Are you sure about this?" the Avatar asked her.

"Yes, unless you truly want to live in the world Zhan Zheng would create," Azula snapped back at him. "Or is it that despite your words last night, you simply don't trust me?"

"Well, part of me doesn't want to trust you," the Avatar admitted honestly, "but part of me says I should, and that's the part I think I should listen to. That's not what I was worried about, though- this could go wrong really easily, and I just wondered if you still thought you were up for it? I mean, you're really risking yourself here, and…" his voice trailed off.

"I am aware of the risks," Azula told him. She looked and the door, then turned back to face him and sighed. "But I do appreciate your concern," she finally managed to say. "I'm going in now- remember, stay out here and wait for me to call you. If Zhan Zheng realizes we're in this together…"

"I understand," Aang said. "Good luck."

Azula nodded once in acknowledgement and watched as he backed up the corridor and then sat against the wall behind a column, holding his staff tightly. She turned back to the stone doors and gave them a firebending-powered kick. They blew open, and she strode inside.

The doors slammed shut behind her, and a great booming laugh filled the room. Looking up, Azula saw Jian Chin himself seated on the Earth King's throne, though the personal grandeur the spirit lent him was so great that it seemed almost paltry next to him. He had one hand up with the fist clenched, having apparently used his powers to bend the doors shut; his burning, unnatural eyes danced with malice and amusement.

"Well, well," the warlord rumbled. "If it isn't the little girl who thought she could kill me. Come to try again have you, _Princess?_ If so, you're going to be disappointed! The power of Zhan Zheng flows through me now, body and soul- I'm invulnerable to the likes of you! Even the Avatar himself couldn't kill me. What chance do you think you have?"

Azula did not reply. Instead she merely drew a deep breath, focused her will completely on the smirking mountain of a man in front of her, and then drew both hands up from her sides, pulling power into them. When she could hold it no longer, she released it.

Twin bolts of lightning blasted from Azula's hands and struck Jian Chin squarely in the face. Roaring in surprise and pain, the warlord managed to stumble to his feet as the electricity played about him, illuminating the whole room in a pale, cold blue glow. For the princess, at that moment the entire universe became reduced to only three things- herself, her opponent, and the bands of energy connecting them both. All of her will became centered on pouring as much power into the lightning as possible.

Finally, however, she felt her strength begin to give out, and the lightning faltered. With a mighty roar Jian Chin through his arms back and reached for the ceiling, sending it careening around the throne room. Azula let the energy go and then fell backwards to avoid the bolts. When she looked up again, she saw that Jian Chin was smoldering but otherwise unharmed. Rage burned in his eyes.

That was fine by her. The lightning had accomplished its goal- she had his attention now, complete and undivided.

"Your attack has failed, Princess," the warlord rumbled. "You poured everything into your strongest attack, and it did _nothing_. I am as far beyond you now as you are beyond an insect." He clenched a fist and the earth began to rumble beneath them. "Now prepare yourself to experience _my_ power."

"Bring it on," Azula murmured, motioning him forward.

Jian Chin roared and slammed his fist into the ground. The earth gave a mighty heave and the floor buckled, sending Azula sprawling and tearing the throne itself free of its platform. The warlord raised his free hand and the whole giant block of stone rose up into the air, but before it could come crashing down on her the princess had rolled away. Jumping to her feet, Azula leaped up onto the floating rock and used it to propel herself towards Jian Chin, aiming a kick straight for his face.

She struck, and it felt like hitting a stone wall. Azula was certain she heard something snap in her foot- the pain was intense enough. Jian Chin, for his part, was angered but otherwise didn't even seem to register the attack. He watched the princess fall back to the ground with one leg under her with a kind of dark, cruel amusement.

"You see now that you cannot defeat me?" he rumbled, and then wrapped both hands around her and lifted her up to eye level. Azula smirked viciously at him and brought up a pair of fire daggers in her hands, burning with blue intensity that flared as she launched them at his eyes. Now Jian Chin screamed and dropped her, stumbling backwards and cursing with his hands over his face. When he lowered them, however, his eyes appeared to have healed. Azula felt her respect for what Zhan Zheng could do when he had someone of the warlord' natural toughness to work with go up.

Snarling inarticulately, Jian Chin stomped a foot into the ground and a tight cone of rock rose up around Azula, immobilizing her completely except from her head. Clenching both fists, the warlord stalked over and raised both of them high, clearly intending to crush her into paste then and there.

"Wait!" she said. Jian Chin paused, uncomprehending. "You've made your point- you're so much stronger now than you were that the person who killed you isn't even a challenge anymore. But killing me might not be in your best interests- after all, I know for a fact that the spirit you deal with has a certain interest in me. You know it too."

"What are you saying?" the warlord asked.

Azula's eyes narrowed. "I want to talk to Zhan Zheng."

Jian Chin looked dubious, but that look changed to fear as his right hand seemed to take on a life of its own. It moved towards Azula slowly, almost gently, the fist unclenching, and then as it reached her it stretched out one finger and touched her lightly on the forehead.

The world dissolved in a sudden flash of light that left Azula blinking. When she'd cleared her vision, she found herself standing free in the midst of chaos. Flames surrounded her on all sides, rising from cracks in a piece of otherwise flat stone that shook beneath her feet. Beyond she could make out a sea of boiling water that surrounded what she took to be a tiny island; the air above seethed with storm clouds. This was a place where the elements themselves were locked in struggle with themselves and each other- somehow, Azula was certain she had been dragged inside Zhan Zheng's mind.

"Poor Azula," a cold, eerily familiar voice said from beyond the flames. Straining her eyes, the princess could see a figure standing just outside the ring of fire, its features impossible to make out. "How far you have fallen. All that you have has been taken from you, your body, mind, and soul have been scarred. You risked your life to save the mother who favors your brother; the only person you truly call friend has other friends now who she prefers. There is nowhere for you to go now, Azula, save for annihilation- or rebirth."

"You are right of course, Zhan Zheng," Azula told the spirit. "But I like to look on the people I'm dealing with. Come out where I can see you."

"Of course," the voice said, sounding wryly amused. The flames parted, and the silhouette stepped forward- and despite all her self-control, Azula almost gasped as its features came into the light. It was _her_, Princess Azula, arrogant and cruel, clad in the armor of royalty and with a faint smiling playing around her mouth. This Azula, thought, didn't have a scar on her face, and rather than being gold her eyes burned in many different colors- all the colors of the elements. Despite appearances, she wasn't human but something else, and though it clothed itself in a human image, its true nature still shone through.

"That isn't your true form," Azula observed as the spirit came closer. "You didn't look like me when I saw you in the fire at the Obsidian Citadel."

Zhan Zheng inclined her head. "True enough," she said with Azula's voice. "But then, you and I are connected in a way I have been with few mortals. You have cunning, power, charisma; you use them in my cause; you were born of the bloodline whose greatest member also produced me." She cocked her head to one side and looked at Azula with those multicolored eyes. "So now, you wanted to speak to me. What can we two children of Sozin do for one another?"

The image of the tormented, repentant shade of Sozin crossed Azula's mind, but she kept her face carefully neutral. "I merely did not wish to die at the hands of that brute," she said. "I figured that you could save me- I believe that I have something you want."

Zhan Zheng laughed Azula's laugh. "True enough," she said. "I have waited long for us to have this conversation- I fear I overplayed my hand at the Obsidian Citadel. In any case, I grow weary of Jian Chin. He has power and he knows war, but he does not think, and the only way he knows to make others follow him is through fear- a method that has its advantages, as you know, but is hardly the only style of leadership. He has been a serviceable host, but there exists one better.

"This is what I offer you- I will merge with you, body and soul; I will _be_ you. All that you once had I can give back and more. All the strengths you possess, I can increase a hundredfold. Already you are stronger, smarter than most- I can make you invincible, and unlike Jian Chin you have the brains to match. You saw how deadly I made him, and Wei Ming before him. You will make them both pale into insignificance. All that you desire- all the power, the glory in the world- will be yours. Remember what you saw at the end in the Well of Time. I can make that dream and more come true. All I require is for you to once again embrace who you _really_ are."

Zhan Zheng's strange eyes bored into Azula's; there was an expression on the spirit's face of darkness and cruelty and terrible hunger, hidden behind a kind and understanding mask. To someone as skilled as the princess at reading others, it was obvious that this creature was something beyond human, and that it was evil beyond any human understanding of the word. To look into that face and those eyes for long would be to lose one's soul.

Azula met them without blinking. "Very well," she said, holding out a hand. Zhan Zheng took it. "I accept."


	24. Chapter 23: Soul of Fire

**Chapter 23: Soul of Fire**

Zhan Zheng held out her hand. Azula took it. For a moment two nearly identical girls stood still and the chaos around them quieted, as if the world itself was turning on this meeting. Then the Spirit of War smiled, and everything dissolved around them.

For a moment Azula hung in the void, and then she was thrust back into her own body. She saw Jian Chin standing before her, his burning green eyes widening in horror as he realized what had transpired- and then the eyes were human once again, bereft of their unnatural glow. His skin lost its stony hue and texture, becoming soft and pink human flesh. The warlord seemed to shrink, diminishing from the godlike figure he had been to nothing more than a man, albeit an unusually large and powerful one. Azula had witnessed the effects of Zhan Zheng deserting its pawn once before, in the caverns beneath Jian Chin's fortress as Wei Ming lay dying, but here the effects were far more dramatic, perhaps because the spirit had been able to pour so much more power into the mighty earthbender. Mortal again, Jian Chin tottered weakly and then collapsed to the throne room floor. He'd been dying when the spirit had found him, the princess knew- now that was finally catching up to him.

Suddenly a wave of power greater than anything she had ever known flooded Azula's body, and the warlord's predicament seemed to lose all relevance. Hot fire coursed through her limbs, as though the fury of a thousand suns now burned within her body. Yet she was not consumed- this was a flame that strengthened, rather than destroyed. The pain in her injured foot vanished, along with that of a dozen other minor scrapes and bruises she'd picked up over the past week. The room around her snapped into brilliant clarity, and beyond that she realized she could sense the presence of every fire that burned within the palace or nearby. In an instant, Zhan Zheng had taken all of her natural talents and relentless training and increased them a thousandfold. She had become the greatest firebender alive- no, the greatest who had _ever lived._

Azula flexed her fingers, and a wave of blue fire shot out, shattering the cone of rock that had held her prisoner. Stepping free, she raised her arms to the heavens and gave a victorious shout that was as much Zhan Zheng's as her own. Lowering them again, she could see the backs of her hands and her eyes widened at the sight, for her skin had changed to a fiery red-orange that glowed with a faint light, and smoke trailed from her fingers. Reaching up curiously, Azula pulled a strand of hair into her field of vision and saw that it too had changed, from black to a blue the same color as her fire, and that glowed and pulsed with a similar inner life.

"I am reborn," she heard herself say. "More than I was, more than anyone has ever been. Once I dreamed of ruling the Fire Nation and through it this world, but now I know that if I wanted I could bring every living creature to its knees by myself. Fire Lord Azula? It seems such a paltry title now. I am Azula, Empress and Goddess, now and forever." She walked over to Jian Chin and prodded him with the toe of one boot; a thin trail of smoke rose where they made contact. "This poor fool never knew what he had."

She gave the warlord a final pitiless glance and turned away, shaking her head. "It's almost a pity that it won't ever come true."

Azula could feel shock ripple through Zhan Zheng's thoughts as the spirit processed what she had just said. As it did so, for the briefest of moments her control over herself was complete, and she moved to take advantage of it. Sprinting towards the door, she blasted it open with barely a touch and raised her voice in a shout.

"Avatar! Now!"

* * *

All of Zuko's world seemed reduced to himself and Xang, trading blows in the center of the Earth King's courtyard. The renegade swordsman, he quickly came to realize, was very good- perhaps not possessed of the same smooth style and grace that characterized the legendary Piandao or other great Fire Nation swordmasters, but still more than good enough to give Zuko a challenge. Of course, the Fire Lord had advantages of his own, namely that he was younger and in better shape than his opponent, and, of course, possessed firebending. That ability, however, was difficult to use accurately with a sword in each hand and Xang fighting so close. For now, the battle was even- thrust, parry, counterattack.

"You are skilled, young man," Xang admitted. "But you must know that you cannot win. Even if you kill me, Jian Chin will crush you. He is stronger than you can know."

"Sorry," Zuko said, bringing up one of his swords to parry Xang's blow while bringing the other towards him in a sweeping strike, which the older man barely dodged. "People a lot scarier than you have tried to kill me before, but I didn't give up for them and I'm not for you."

Xang shrugged. "So be it," he said, and then lunged forward, making a series of swift strikes with his blade. Zuko managed to parry them, but fell backwards, drawing his enemy in closer. As Xang lifted his blade, the Fire Lord suddenly spun his swords in a tight circle, flames flaring around their edges. Now Xang stumbled back, shielding his eyes from the light and heat, and Zuko took advantage of his distraction to kick the legs out from underneath him. Jian Chin's lieutenant fell to the ground, and looked up at the Fire Lord with fearful eyes.

Zuko raised his swords, debating to himself whether or not he should kill a fallen foe who nonetheless might still prove dangerous, and for a moment he hesitated. Xang's expression suddenly shifted from fear to a wide grin, and before the Fire Lord could react he struck out with both feet together. They struck Zuko in the stomach and sent him sprawling to the ground; in an instant Xang was up again and he rushed forward, stomping hard on Zuko's wrist as he reached for his sword. The Fire Lord gasped in sudden pain and felt his hand to limp.

Xang shook his head. "You're good," he repeated, "but you're too honorable to see tricks when they're in front of your face. Me, I'm a pragmatist." He raised his sword to strike the killing blow. "Goodbye, Fire Lord."

But before the sword fell, three small, gleaming objects shot seemingly from the very air and struck Xang's sword arm with a thump. His armor seemed to absorb most of it, but enough of the blades penetrated his skin to wring a shriek of pain from the warlord's second in command. His sword fell to the ground, and he spun, cursing and looking for the one who had attacked him. He saw her standing not far away, a disinterested expression on her face as she slipped another knife into her hand.

"I'm a pragmatist too," Mai said quietly.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who can't see tricks, Xang," Zuko said, and with a tight smile of his own. Jumping back to his feet, he raised his free hand and launched a fireblast that sent Xang stumbling backwards, batting at the flames that had sprung up on his armor and uniform. Darting forward, the Fire Lord brought up his remaining sword and struck his opponent alongside the head with the flat of the blade, _hard._ Xang dropped like a stone, and Zuko kicked him to make certain he really was unconscious, rather than faking again. Satisfied, he looked up to see Mai standing quietly at his side.

"You all right?" she asked.

Zuko flexed his wrist and winced. "I hurt, but I don't think anything's broken. Thanks for the hand."

Mai shrugged. "I like the boyfriend I have. It would be too much work to have to train somebody else." She looked down at Xang. "Are you going to finish him off, or should I?"

Zuko looked around at the rest of the courtyard, where most of Jian Chin's surviving forces had been driven off into corners and were slowly being worn down. "No," he said. "However this ends up, we're going to have prisoners, and he'll be useful in keeping them under control. He was only fighting because he thought Jian Chin was invincible- once his boss goes down, I think he'll see reason."

"_If_ Jian Chin goes down, you mean," Mai said.

"When," Zuko corrected with quiet force as he turned to look up at the palace. "I just wish I knew what was going on in there."

* * *

At Azula's shout, Aang jumped to his feet and rushed to the throne room door, mentally preparing himself for what he had to do. He could see her standing there now, changed as he knew Jian Chin must have been, but even though he'd been expecting it the sight was still a shocking one. The princess seemed to have become a being of living flame- her skin the red-orange of ordinary fire, while her hair and eyes burned with blue intensity. Even as he approached, however, she screamed and collapsed to the ground, clutching her head.

Aang didn't know what was happening, but he had a pretty good guess. Zhan Zheng knew that Azula had tricked it now, and it was somehow bringing its power to bear against her from within her own body. Aang didn't know how that was possible, but then he didn't know a whole lot about spirits in general, and they all seemed different. In any case, it looked like Azula's life was going to depend on whether or not they could pull this off.

Kneeling beside her body, for now ignoring the feebly stirring form of Jian Chin in the throne room itself, Aang reached out a hand for her forehead and pulled it back in shock and pain- her skin was red-hot to the touch. Azula thrashed and moaned as he pulled back, and after giving her a moment to calm down he reached out again, more slowly this time, trying to use his firebending as much as was possible to blunt the heat.

Then he touched her forehead and made contact with her combined spirit, and the Avatar found himself wrenched out of his body and being drawn down into a hot, dark void.

* * *

Katara ran down the tunnels beneath the Earth King's palace, following Ilook's footsteps ahead of her. She was beyond the dungeons proper now, and the tunnels were much rougher and less maintained, but there was still a path, sloping steadily downwards. It probably connected to the underground ruins beneath the modern city, she thought, and to the natural caverns beneath them, and from there maybe all the way down into the very center of the world. So far as Katara knew, no one but the Dai Li had ever fully mapped out the caverns of Ba Sing Se, and the secretive enforcers did not share their knowledge freely.

Finally she emerged into a larger chamber and stopped, blinking as she took in her surroundings. The cavern was large and expansive, filled with large outcroppings of faintly glowing green crystal, but areas of its floor were paved, and pools of water that were too regular to be natural lined the walls. Katara's eyes widened. She had seen this place- or one very like it- once before, years ago. Here she and Aang had fought against Azula, Zuko and the Dai Li for the control of Ba Sing Se- and Aang had nearly died. For a few minutes there she supposed he technically had- it had only been the water from the North Pole's Spirit Oasis that had been able to bring him back.

"Brings back memories, does it?" a calm voice said. Katara followed it and saw Ilook leaning against one of the crystal outcroppings. The Earth King lay apparently unconscious at his side. A small half-smile played around the other waterbender's lips.

"What do you know about that?" Katara asked warily.

"Nothing- lucky guess. You had that look in your eyes," Ilook said. Smile broadening, he glanced down at the comatose king at his side. "You want this?" he asked.

"Give him back," Katara said, her voice ice-cold. "The Earth King is harmless- if you hurt him…"

"Relax, girl," he replied, raising his hands. "He's just out cold. And you'll get him back without another mark on him if you just answer my questions."

"What do you want to know?" Katara's tone was neutral, but her hands moved to the waterskins at her side. Ilook seemed calm now, but if his little performance back in the prison level was anything to go by, the man was dangerously unstable and might decided to attack her at any moment.

"About you," he said, smiling broadly now. "When I left the Northern Water Tribe, girls weren't taught the forms of combat waterbending, and the Southern Tribe has been without benders for years. _Where did you come from_?" His tone suddenly became soothing, or at least an approximation of it. "Don't worry, child- I'm a renegade too. I won't rat you out to nasty old Pakku or any of those fools who think they possess all of waterbending for themselves."

Katara laughed darkly. "Then you're in for a surprise- I'm not renegade at all. Pakku taught me himself after he realized my grandmother was his lost love. If you were looking for a kindred spirit, you haven't found her. Now give me the Earth King."

A dizzying wave of emotions surged across Ilook's face so quickly that Katara could barely keep track of them, but they finally settled on that unnerving smile. "So I see," he said softly. "I feared as much- you're nothing special at all, just a miserable little wretch who was in the right place at the right time to have the master shower you with all his knowledge." His face twisted into an inhuman mask of rage. "Well I've pushed waterbending father than he ever dreamed, and he knew it! I'm stronger than he ever was, and _I am stronger than you!_"

Ilook lunged forward with shocking speed, water jumping up from the pouches at his waist to wrap around his hands in talons of ice. Giving a laugh that was high and cold and seemed to go on far too long, he leveled his hands at Katara and sent the frozen blades shooting directly at her.

She reacted almost without thinking, drawing the water from her own skins and forming it into a ring of tentacles that surrounded her, catching the icy shards as they came within range and hurling them back towards Ilook. Grimacing, he dodged and allowed them to impact the crystals behind him, then spun back to face her, his eerie smile in place again. "Careful," he said reprovingly. "Wouldn't want our dear little Earth King to get hurt now, would we?"

"Aww, you're just mad that I'm better than you thought I was," Katara shot back. Ilook's instability could be a weakness, she decided- he'd be much easier to take down if he wasn't thinking clearly, and that meant making him mad. "Or maybe you're just not as great as you think you are."

"Oh, you've seen _nothing _of what I can do, little girl," he said. Still smiling, Ilook lifted both his arms and swept them forward in a dramatic gesture, calling up waves of water from the surrounding pools. Forming up beneath his feet, they became a wave that launched him forward and unbelievable speeds. On his hands, the ice thickened again, forming into a pair of long spikes on the ends of his arms. Katara had no doubts as to their purpose.

Waiting until the last possible moment, she rolled to the side and avoided Ilook's attack. The madman crashed into the cavern wall behind her, directly above the entrance to the tunnels; his spikes were embedded in the rocks. Calling up her own water from the floor, Katara sent it shooting forward and neatly cut the connection between the bulk of the wave and the part on which her opponent stood. The connection between it broken, the water came crashing to the cavern floor, though Katara was able to use her bending to direct it away from her. Ilook hung for a moment, and then crashed to the floor as well. He lay in a heap, groaning.

Katara watched him for a few moments, satisfied that he was down, and then turned and sprinted towards the Earth King. Before she got far, however, something slammed into her back and sent her stumbling to her knees. She managed to spin around just in time to see another row of ice daggers flying at her and deflect them with a narrow whip of water. Behind the daggers, however, came Ilook himself, who hurled himself at Katara with savage fury and clasped both of his hands tightly around her throat. She fell back, choking, as his face contorted in an expression of savage glee.

_Maybe making him angry wasn't such a good idea after all_, Katara thought wildly.

"You will not defeat me," he hissed in a terrible voice. As he spoke his grip tightened and water slid down his arms, forming into a gag that covered Katara's mouth and nose and from there began to spread over her face. "I am the greatest waterbender who has ever lived- greater than you, greater than your worthless master, greater than any of you. And you will know it before you die!"

As Ilook's grip and that of the water tightened around her, darkness began to fall over Katara's vision. She couldn't take this much longer, she knew, and part of her thought it was strange that after all she'd been through she'd die here, alone, killed by a maniac she'd only met today while Aang fought another battle far above… At that thought her will and vision sharpened. Aang was counting on her, and the Earth King was counting on her, and the people of Ba Sing Se were counting on her to bring their leader home safe. She wouldn't fail any of them, not while she was still alive- and she _was not going to die down here!_

Focusing all of her remaining will, Katara reached for the water in the gag, in the cavern around her, and even in her own body, though she wasn't sure how much she could do with that without a full moon to guide it. Then, holding as much power in her will as she could, Katara _pushed_.

The gag exploded outward from her face, striking Ilook and snapping his head back as he cursed. Then two giant jets of water from the pools slammed into him even as Katara kicked out with her arms and legs. The madman was sent flying backwards and he slammed into one of the crystal outcroppings. Katara pulled herself to her feet and faced him- both were sopping wet, both were barely on their feet, but now a defiant spark had been lit inside her that would not die. Ilook, by contrast, seemed to have lost all but the most superficial aspects of humanity at this latest humiliation- his lips were pulled back from his teeth, and his eyes were wide and staring, empty except for hate. Katara had seen an expression like that only once before, on Azula during her final collapse on the day of the Comet.

Coughing, she spat the last of the gag from her mouth and muttered something under her breath. "What was that?" Ilook demanded, his voice unnaturally shrill.

"I said," Katara gasped, "that it looks like my bending might be stronger than yours after all."

Ilook laughed again. "We'll see about that," he hissed. "You may have the greater power, but I have learned things about water that you've never even dreamed." He began to charge again, one hand raised and glowing with a faint white light. It looked like the beginning of a healing, but Katara knew it was the same technique he'd used to torture the soldier back in the dungeon. If he touched her with it, she thought that it would very likely be the end.

But maybe, if the attack was some sort of perverted healing, it could be countered by that same expression of pure waterbending?

Katara gave a faint smile of her own as Ilook approached, and as he raised his hand to strike her, she caught it in her own, which also glowed with power. The power of life and the power to destroy it met in that instant, and the glow brightened to such an intensity that it became impossible to look at as the two waterbenders strove against one another. Ilook was fuelled by raw animal intensity and a simple love of suffering that leant him inhuman power, but Katara was a prodigy with a far deeper connection to the true nature of her element.

Ilook unleashed all of his strength against her, but Katara simply took it, repairing instantly whatever damage he did, and that very act of healing forced his power back. Finally he could bear it no longer, and with an animal scream pulled away from her. The screaming didn't stop, and as he held his hand in front of him and stared at it with wide eyes Katara could see why. The glow had not abated- rather it was progressing down his arm, seeming to consume his body as it went.

"What have you done to me, witch?" he demanded, and now his eyes shown with a new expression- fear. For the first time, Ilook was truly afraid. "Stop it! This isn't fun anymore!"

"Fun?" Katara asked harshly. "So helping Jian Chin take over the Earth Kingdom torturing your own men, and fighting me was _fun_ until your own life was threatened?" As she watched the glow begin to creep past Ilook's elbow, though, her anger began to be replaced by creeping horror. "But I didn't do that."

"Stop it!" Ilook shouted again, and he began to stumble about wildly as though in terrible agony. Suddenly Katara realized what was happening- in his battle with her, he had summoned too great a destructive power for him to control. Now, unable to find release, it was consuming him alive.

Nobody deserved that, not even him. "Calm down," Katara shouted, running towards him. "Let me help you!" She was certain she could stop the degeneration if he'd just let her touch him- for that matter he could probably have stopped it himself with even greater ease, assuming he'd managed to keep his wits about him.

"I won't fall for your tricks, witch!" he screamed. As she approached he tried to back away from her, but in his agony he stumbled and fell directly into one of the pools of water. Katara's eyes widened as he sank past the surface, and then the whole pool pulsed once with a white glow. When it cleared, the water churned and bubbled briefly, and then fell still. Katara stepped cautiously forward and looked within, but the only sign of Ilook was his empty clothes sinking towards the bottom of the pool. Apparently sudden contact with so much water had accelerated the process consuming him, and whatever was left of the madman now was indistinguishable from the rest of the liquid. She decided she didn't particularly want to look closer and test that theory.

Sinking to her knees, Katara could only stare in horror at the enemy waterbender's final fate. No one deserved that. No one.

"A monstrous end," a weak voice said from behind her, and Katara turned to see the Earth King standing there. "For a monstrous man. But you didn't kill him. He destroyed himself- you only gave him the chance." The young monarch sounded very tired.

"Isn't that a little deep for you?" Katara asked him.

"Being locked up for weeks alone in your own dungeon gives you a lot of time to think- and I also think that spending time with General Iroh before that has rubbed off on me," the King said. He held out his arm, and Katara took it; they began to walk back towards the tunnel, supporting each other. "Now let's get out of here." His brow creased suddenly, as though a matter of utmost urgency had just occurred to him. "And hopefully one of Jian Chin's soldiers knows where they stuck Bosco. I hope it wasn't anywhere like my cell. He gets lonely, you see."

Katara smiled and squeezed the King's arm reassuringly, but as she did so her mind went to one _she_ cared greatly about. _Oh, Aang,_ she thought, _I hope you're having better luck than I am._

* * *

The words to the Avatar had barely left Azula's lips as agony suddenly spiked in her body. She found herself driven to her knees by the pain, and then she was falling metaphorically as well, into the darkness of her own mind… and the darkness that was Zhan Zheng.

She found herself back in the tormented place that was the spirit's mind, or soul, or home, only now the fury of the elements had increased dramatically. She was driven to her knees by the power of the roaring wind, and the earth quaked and buckled beneath her body. The surrounding fire had expanded into a sort of whirling sheet- and then it split apart, and Zhan Zheng stepped through. At first, the spirit still wore Azula's face, albeit twisted by an inhuman expression of loathing and rage, but slowly those features twisted until they became the androgynous ones she had glimpsed in a fire so long ago. Zhan Zheng was beautiful in her- no, _its_, Azula wouldn't do the creature the honor of humanizing it any longer- true form, compelling and almost seductive, but there was a fundamental wrongness about it too, that was obvious if one bothered to look.

_Like war itself_, Azula thought. _Looks good on the outside, if you're the one who stands to gain, but inside it's all rotten for everyone._

"You betrayed me!" the spirit shrieked, it's voice seeming to be composed of thousands that were all screaming in rage it once. "I offered you everything, I _gave_ you everything, and _you betrayed me!_"

"And so I did," Azula said. "I thought you knew me, Zhan Zheng? Could it be that even as you merged with my very soul you didn't realize who you were dealing with? Of course I betrayed you. It's what I do best."

Zhan Zheng's eyes narrowed, and then one hand shot out- Azula noticed that its fingernails were more like talons- and caught her chin in its grip, dragging her close to its face. "What I do not understand is why?" the spirit asked. "I gave you all that you ever dreamed of. Why would you turn your back on me now, at the moment of our triumph?"

"Because I'm not like you, spirit," Azula said. "You are War- an idea incarnate, absolute and unchanging. I'm a human being, for better or worse, and change is what we do. I used to want all those things you offered me, but I don't any more. I've seen their true face- your true face- and I know they lead one place- ruin." Her eyes hardened into golden daggers. "Try your hardest, Zhan Zheng. You can tempt me no longer."

The unnatural eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Then you choose your own fate," Zhan Zheng said softly. With a terrible swiftness its fingers elongated into razor-sharp tentacles that attached themselves to Azula's face, and began to burrow inside. The princess tried to control herself, but she couldn't for long- this was agony and ultimate violation of her body, her soul, _herself_. Held fast in the spirit's power, she couldn't even fight back.

"We could have been partners in this, Azula," Zhan Zheng said, without a hint of malice or mercy. "But you turned aside from that. And so I shall consume you, mind, body, and soul, until there is nothing left but an empty shell. And then I shall take that shall for my own, and have all your power and knowledge without having to concern myself with your flawed humanity. But Azula of the Fire Nation _will_ own this world, one way or another."

Azula tried to speak, to give some biting bit of sarcasm or refutation, but she could not. She couldn't even scream any more- all that was coming from her mouth was a kind of wet choking sound. Some detached part of her mind that was still rational noticed that the extremities of her form had started to dissolve and flow towards the void that was Zhan Zheng.

And then a brilliant light filled the whole tormented land, and the spirit recoiled as thought it had been burned. Its tendrils did not retract themselves from Azula, and yet she could feel the pain abating as it refocused its energies towards another target. The spirit's gaze was now fixed on a point beyond Azula, and she managed to turn her head enough to see what it was looking at- a short, slender human figure enveloped in a blue-white glow.

"Let her go," the Avatar said, calmly but firmly.

"Well, well," Zhan Zheng hissed. "If it isn't my old nemesis, the Avatar. Come to die with the princess here? I'd be glad to help it along. Your time is over. Your purpose was to safeguard the balance of the world, but that balance ended a hundred years ago when your people were destroyed. I am War, and War is the true nature of things now. You are nothing more than a relic of a past age, and if you challenge me here you will be destroyed!"

The Avatar stepped forward, one hand outstretched, a look of absolute focus on his face. He must be using his spiritbending, Azula thought- that was the only thing that might make Zhan Zheng retreat, and such a thing would certainly require all of his concentration to avoid being drawn in by forces even more powerful than he was and destroyed. "Let her go," he repeated.

Zhan Zheng's eyes flashed. "I don't think so," it hissed. Raising its free hand, the spirit sent a jet of pulsating red-black light- presumably some part of its own essence- shooting towards the Avatar. Aang crossed his arms and blocked it- he was driven back several feet, but was otherwise unharmed. "Impressive," the spirit admitted, "but you can't keep it up forever. I'm not Ozai, child, a mortal unprepared for your attack. This is my domain, and within it you cannot match me."

In a terrible moment, Azula realized that Zhan Zheng was right. As it launched more of itself at Aang, it did not seemed to be weakened at all, while the Avatar was clearly struggling to keep from being overwhelmed. This battle might last for a long time, true, but in the end the result seemed inevitable- the spirit of War would prevail.

And then she noticed that Zhan Zheng was _not_ unaffected after all. As it focused all of its efforts on destroying the Avatar, the thin tendrils of spirit that bound Azula had begun to slip free.

She didn't know if she could change things, didn't know if there was anything further she could do that would more than inconvenience this foe. But at the core of Princess Azula, buried beneath all the ambition and arrogance and cruelty that had been her old life, was and remained the indomitable will of her family line, the will that knew no defeat. This time, however, it was also fuelled by something more- when she had proposed her plan, the Avatar had trusted her. He hadn't needed to- she was his enemy, and he could easily have tried to find another plan to defeat Zhan Zheng (or even taken Katara up on her offer), but he hadn't. Aang had trusted her more than anything because that was _who he was_. That was something Azula had seldom experienced during her life- it seemed fitting that it should be repaid.

Trust between enemies… the princess gave a tight smile as she realized she just might have the answer.

Twisting in Zhan Zheng's grasp, she gave the spirit a solid kick to the torso, sending it sprawling to the heaving ground. Pulling herself to her feet before it could recover, she grabbed the tendrils on her face and gave them a sharp yank. There was a brief stab of terrible pain as they tore free, and then they were out without even any blood to mark their exit (which she supposed made sense, as this whole drama was taking place within the spirit). Azula gave the tendrils a disgusted look and then hurled them to the ground beside Zhan Zheng, and then walked over to stand beside the Avatar.

The spirit of War sat up slowly, a look of pain crossing its beautiful features as it retracted the tendrils into its fingers. "Why?" it asked in a disbelieving voice. "You know that you cannot destroy me. Why do you rush headlong to your own destruction?"

"Because I know some things you don't, Zhan Zheng," Azula said. "You look at yourself and you think that you're perfect and everything ought to be just like you so that you can keep on going, but you're wrong. The Face-Stealer gave me the key. He told me what you are- the incarnate idea of war- and maybe that works out in the Spirit World, but in the real world, ideas don't just exist by themselves. Actions have consequences, and look at yours. You tried to create conflict, and you did, but you also brought people together to fight you. Look at me and the Avatar here- two years ago we were worst enemies, and now we stand side by side to stop _you._ More than that, if you bothered to look outside this palace you'd see more of the same. Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, and the last Airbender, all standing together _because of you!_"

Azula's golden eyes bored into the spirit's shifting ones. "Do you even see what that means? War isn't the end all of our world- just one part of it. The balance corrects itself, whether you want it to or not. My father and I learned that the hard way, but it never seems to have gotten through to you. You were doomed before you even began, Zhan Zheng. _You are a lie!" _

Zhan Zheng's face twisted into a nightmare mask of hate, rage, and beneath them, despair and it gave a cry far too long and terrible to be human. Eyes burning, hands curling into talons, it hurled itself at the Avatar and the Fire Princess.

Azula grabbed Aang by the arm and stood fast. "Spiritbend, now!" she hissed.

"What?" he asked.

"Trust me!"

The Avatar gave a little smile. "All right," he said. "Here goes." He stretched out his hand as Zhan Zheng struck, and the world exploded into brilliant light.

Together, Aang and Azula stood solidly against the spirit's onslaught, which was held at bay by the spiritbending and then, slowly pushed back. Zhan Zheng was strong, but the princess had sowed the seeds of doubt in its mind. Not much perhaps, but enough to weaken its will and resolve and enrage it past the point of thinking clearly.

Suddenly the air itself began to crack apart behind Zhan Zheng, and through it Azula glimpsed bits of what could only be the Spirit World. She found herself giving a wolfish smile, for she remembered one of the other things Koh had told her, and now she had little doubt of what Zhan Zheng's final fate must be. The spirit of War fought on with tremendous ferocity, but finally Aang gave a great heave and the light that was his spiritbending sent Zhan Zheng stumbling backwards into the rift, its final scream trailing off and then vanishing altogether.

As soon as Zhan Zheng had vanished, the ground buckled more severely beneath Azula's feet. She was hurled to her knees, and looking up she saw that the same had happened to the Avatar. "With the spirit gone, this whole place is collapsing!" she shouted at him. "Any idea what will happen to us?"

"We'll get thrown back into our bodies. I think," he said. "I hope." He turned to look at her and smiled. "Thanks for the help."

Azula couldn't help herself- she smiled back, though hers wasn't as wide. Then Zhan Zheng's entire tormented world came apart at the edges, and they both fell forward into darkness.

AN: We're almost done- just one more chapter left to tie up loose ends, and the epilogue. Thanks for reading, everyone- I hope to have it completely finished before Christmas!


	25. Chapter 24: To Begin Again

**Chapter 24: To Begin Again**

Azula blinked and groaned as she sat up, her mind registering little other than surprise that she wasn't dead. Or at least, she was still aware and in pain, which spoke rather highly of her being alive- she'd read several different forms of speculation on the afterlife, but none of them included raging headaches, or looked like the inside of the Earth King's throne room. Looking around, she saw Aang coming to beside her, while Jian Chin lay off to one side, still stirring fitfully but in no condition to fight. Glancing down at her hands, she saw that they had returned to their normal color- Zhan Zheng and the power it had granted were gone. Azula found that she did not mourn the loss.

"Ow," Aang said, clearly and distinctly. "Please remind me never to do anything like that again."

"Somehow I don't think it will come up," Azula told him.

The Avatar sat up slowly rubbing his forehead. "Do you think we won, then? I remember Zhan Zheng falling into that portal, but I'm not sure what happened after that."

Azula reached her mind back, trying to make sense of the final battle that had taken place within her own soul. "I think that the spirit was sent back to the place from where it came- and that a certain mutual acquaintance wants words with it. Face-to-face, if you take my meaning."

Aang's shiver was a rather strong indicator that he did. "Then it's over, finally," he said.

"Yes." Indeed, the princess thought- it _was_ over. The evil born of the house of Sozin had finally been put down by his descendants- her role had been to aid in the defeat of the spirit itself, and Zuko… Zuko's role had been to prevent _her_ from taking the throne two years ago. Azula herself shivered at that reminder of how far gone she had been into Zhan Zheng's power.

"You don't look so good," Aang pointed out. "Are you okay?"

"All my life I thought I was in control of myself and everyone around me," Azula whispered, "but for most of it, I was living a lie. I was nothing more than what my father and the royal house had decided the ideal warrior-heir was supposed to be- I was their slave, and I did it gladly. It's only been for the last few months that I've actually chosen to make my own destiny. For someone like me, that's just humbling to recognize and admit."

"Yeah, but you _did_ admit it, and in the end you chose to do the right thing," Aang said. "For that by itself, you're stronger than you're father. It's never too late to change- I learned that from Zuko."

"Well maybe Zuzu has his uses after all then," Azula said wryly. She pulled herself to her feet and stretched, while beside her Aang leaped up lightly and walked over to where Jian Chin lay. "What are you going to do with him?"

Aang bent down by the warlord's side and checked his pulse. "I'm not an expert, but I think he'll live for a bit longer. Then I can get Katara to heal him so he can stand trial before the Earth King." Azula shot him a dark look, but the Avatar just shook his head. "I know you think leaving him alive is stupid, but I'm not going to kill him _or_ let him die, which would be just as bad. Besides, he's not that dangerous without Zhan Zheng, and I really _don't_ think the Earth King's going to let him off."

"Have it your way, then," Azula said. A part of her, she found, rather like the notion that the man who sought glory above all else would end his days utterly ignominiously in prison. It had a certain poetic irony to it, and Azula had always been able to appreciate irony.

Suddenly the ground began to rumble beneath the princess's feet. She shot a wild glance at Jian Chin, but unless the warlord had developed an earthbending technique that was powered by drooling, he did not appear to be responsible. Azula's eyes began to dart around the throne room and she dropped into a combat stance, but no enemy revealed themselves

Then a ground in front of the throne burst open, and both Avatar and princess stumbled backwards as the body of one of Jian Chin's earthbenders came shooting out, landing in an unconscious heap by the form of his warlord. He was followed by a much smaller figure, who landed on his chest and held up a fist which she pumped victoriously.

"Oh yeah," Toph Bei Fong said. "You can talk tough all you want, but when the chips are down, the Blind Bandit is _still_ the best."

Azula blinked as she looked down at the floor and gave the hole some serious thought- assuming the battle had started in the dungeons, then the earthbender girl had just blasted both her opponent and herself through several floors of solid rock. The Bei Fong girl might lack a certain degree of polish, but one had to admit that her abilities were impressive.

Beside her, Aang was shaking his head, a wide grin on his face. "You know," he said, "things and people may change all the time, but there are a few that you can always rely on to be just the same. Toph's one of them."

Azula found that she had to agree.

* * *

Several days later, Azula stood atop the Earth King's palace and watched the sun sink slowly towards the horizon. For everyone else, the last few days had held an air of returning to normalcy- the Earth King had been restored to his throne (though he'd stared in abject horror when he saw the hole Toph had left in his throne room) and Iroh to his tea shop, while the others made preparations to return to wherever they called home. For Azula, however, "normal" was something that belonged to a world she now admitted was gone beyond her ability to recall. She'd watched the proceedings like a ghost, aware of them but unable to connect to them in any meaningful way.

"Hey," a rather irate voice said from behind her. "You have any idea how long I've been looking for you? This place is _big_, and I just wanted to talk." Azula turned to see Ty Lee standing there, arms crossed- behind her was Ursa, dressed now in rich, green Earth Kingdom robes and with her long hair neatly brushed and arranged again.

"Hello Ty Lee, mother," the princess said. "My being difficult to find was rather deliberate, you know. I wanted to be away from people."

"How come?" the acrobat asked. "It's not like everyone hates you anymore. I mean, I'm not sure some of them will ever really _like_ you, but they all know you helped Aang stop Zhan Zheng, and they can respect that. Once the story gets out, you'll be a hero!"

"There used to be a time when thousands thought I was a hero," Azula said softly. "After I conquered Ba Sing Se, remember? They worshipped me, and that just fuelled my own belief in my own superiority- and _that_ destroyed me. I can't trust myself with that again."

"Oh," Ty Lee said, though from her expression it was clear she didn't completely understand. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm not sure," Azula admitted. Looking down at the courtyard below, she saw where the sky bison Appa was munching on a large pile of hay, much to the disgust of the palace staff (who already felt put-upon having to clean up after a fully grown bear), while Zuko's airship hovered on its tether just outside the walls, being readied for departure. "I'm not one of them, Ty Lee. I'm not sure I can be, after everything that's happened. But I've undone some of the damage, at least. They may not like me, but you're right- they don't hate me anymore either. And it is refreshing to have respect that does not come from fear."

Ursa stepped forward and placed a hand on her daughter's arm. "I don't know what destiny awaits you," she said, "but you have proven that it will be one you will make for yourself, not what the Fire Nation and your father set out for you- and that you have learned enough to make the right choices now. You have risen above your past and made a new life for yourself- I understand that now. There are few who could do what you did, Azula- or who could have turned the spirit Zhan Zheng down when it offered their greatest dream."

Azula smiled slightly as she turned to look at her mother. "Peace, then?" she asked.

"Peace," Ursa said, returning the smile.

They turned and watched the sunset for several more minutes before Azula spoke again. "I've made a decision," she said. "There is more to this world than just the four bending nations- almost certainly there are places in it that we still do not know. For a hundred years war halted the acquisition of knowledge that wasn't connected to fighting- now it can begin again. I will find a ship and go to the edge of the map, or find a caravan traveling into the depths of the desert. There I can find places where the name of Princess Azula isn't known as anything but a rumor; I'll be able to find people among whom I can begin fresh, and challenges to test myself against that do not involve claiming power over others." She paused and looked out over Ba Sing Se again. "Maybe then I can find out who I truly am."

"You can't just, just _leave_!" Ty Lee said. "Not after everything!"

"Well, maybe I'll show up every now and then," Azula allowed. "After all, a true friend isn't something I can say I've had very often, which I'll now give was largely my own fault, and I'd rather not lose one. But if I stay here, or go back to the Fire Nation, or go to Kyoshi Island with you, the shadow of everything I've done will always hang over me. I need to get away from that."

"We understand," Ursa said. "It's not easy to live with the sins of the past, especially when they affected so many- I know that. But I also know that you did a very brave and difficult thing in the final defeat of Zhan Zheng, something that _saved_ so many lives- for that alone, Azula, I can say that I am proud of you." Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around her daughter in an embrace such as they had not shared since she was a very small child. Azula stiffened for a moment, and then returned it.

Finally, she pulled away. "Goodbye, Mom," Azula said softly. "I wasn't able to do it earlier, but now I think I'm ready. I forgive you." Turning, she walked over to the entrance to the rooftop, opened it, and entered, vanishing from sight.

"And I forgive you, my child," Ursa said. "May the spirits walk with you as you find a new path, and the peace that has evaded you so long."

* * *

Zhan Zheng awoke in darkness. It could still feel the agony of the Avatar's final attack, and of Azula's words which had torn at its soul, unthinkable and yet undeniably true. Was she right? Was the spirit of War doomed to defeat, because free human beings would always resist it? Was the balance in fact not dead, but a force so strongly embedded in the fabric of the universe that it would always work against Zhan Zheng? The spirit forced such thoughts from its mind. It still existed- weakened, true, but alive. It would wait here, in the Spirit World, gathering its strength before another attack. The mortal world would be its, and war would reign eternal. It was only a matter of time.

The spirit stood and ran its hands along the wall at its side- it appeared to be in a sort of tunnel, but it was filled with darkness so thick it had to be supernatural in order to so thoroughly block Zhan Zheng's site. The spirit of War shrugged, deciding this was of no importance and began to walk along the tunnel, looking for the way out.

A chuckled suddenly echoed through the darkness, cold and cruelly amused, carrying a weight of old and patient malice that Zhan Zheng could not hope to match. The spirit spun, seeking the source of the sound, but it saw nothing. "Who is there?" it demanded, flaring its eyes menacingly. "I demand you show yourself!"

"You've caused us a lot of trouble, young one," a cold voice spoke from the shadows. "Young and foolish spirit. You thought you could break the balance and turn the entire world into yourself, but you did not understand that the balance _is_ life- without it, nothing can be; not me, not you, not the either world. You would have accomplished nothing but your own destruction, had you won. But now you never will. I claim some small credit for that myself- it was I who gave the girl the key. How do you destroy an idea, I asked her, and she guessed it. You force the idea to become its own opposite. You show that war, in the end, produces a desire for peace, that imbalance wants nothing more than to balance itself. That was what gave her and the Avatar the power to banish you back to this realm, where you are oh so vulnerable."

"Who are you?" Zhan Zheng asked, feeling something unfamiliar and cold fill it. It took the spirit a moment to realize that it was fear.

A face suddenly appeared before it- the face of a clown, but mounted on the body of a great centipede, only the front portion of which was visible. The face's lips parted in a slight smile. "I am Koh," the monster said. "And I have been waiting for you."

Then it lunged forward, and the last thing that Zhan Zheng ever felt was the sensation of razor sharp claws sinking into the edges of its face. Then… nothing.


	26. Epilogue: The Firebending Master

**Epilogue: The Firebending Master**

In later years, tales spoke of the greatest firebending master alive, saying that she was a woman who lived alone on a small island near the edge of the Fire Nation. They said that she wielded rare blue fire, a trait only of the most powerfully talented benders, and almost never heard of in one as old as she. There were rumors that she had mastered the art beyond what most could dream of, that she could kill or heal with equal ease, but only her few students knew the truth of it. It was obvious to all, however, that those students were very skilled, and that in and of itself spoke highly of their teacher.

Of course, she trained only those who already possessed great talent, for she had little patience with failure and less with drilling the basics with students who lacked true commitment to the art of firebending. Many sought her teachings; few were accepted. She tested all who would have her knowledge for skill, commitment, and self-control; those who lacked any of these traits were turned away.

The master herself was an old woman, though she was still as straight and slender as a sword blade, and it was clear that in her youth she had been very beautiful. She wore plain red robes, and the eyes that gazed out from her lined face were a gleaming, predatory gold that never faltered in their intensity. Though the master never spoke about her past, this trait alone was enough that many of her students guessed she was of very high noble blood. The fact that she was in correspondence with _someone_ at the Capital- perhaps the Fire Lord himself- on a semi-regular basis added fuel to this theory. Combining these with her age, it was indeed possible to guess her identity with some accuracy, but none of her students confronted her about it. She made it quite clear that the ghosts of her past were to stay buried, and none of the students had any desire to see the master in her temper.

In addition to bending, the master taught her students another lesson. "Fire is the element of passion," she said to a small group of them on the last night of their training. "It will give you the power to create or destroy, and it can inspire you to greatness- or it can hasten your destruction. That is the line all firebenders must walk. Once I believed that my power gave me the right to do as I pleased, no matter who I harmed. I learned differently only after much suffering and giving up more than you can know. I have known others who never learned, and died for it. But the lesson is this- if you have power, you must control it. If you do not, it will control you, and then consume you.

"Some of you are thinking right now that this is nothing but an old woman's nonsense. When I was young, I would have agreed with you. But I know better now, and that is why I leave you with this last lesson- wield your power responsibly and with forethought, or you will fall and drag many more into the ashes with you." Here she paused and looked and the small circle of students that surrounded her with those penetrating eyes. She saw that one of them was eyeing her with a smirk he thought well-hidden- he had come here to learn to fight, not to listen to her spout philosophy. She shook her head, foreseeing the fall ahead of him. "As you leave here, remember these things- discipline, control, and responsibility. If you do so, you can perhaps avoid the path I walked and find greatness- or not. In any event, remember that your destiny lies in your own hands, and even if you fall, if you desire you can still rise again."

She did not tell them she was proud of them, did not wish them a fond farewell- the master was not given to overt displays of affection. But as her gaze swept over them again, they all knew that they had met her exacting standards, and not been found wanting. That was praise enough.

The next morning, they departed her island, returning to the mainland of the Fire Nation. The master stood atop the hill on her island and watched them go, then turned and began to walk towards her home. Soon more would come, seeking her knowledge, but for now she was alone again. For years now she had trained the most talented young firebenders; it was an often difficult and annoying task, but one she was and remained determined to perform to perfection. To her mind, it had become almost a ritual, her way, after her battle against the spirit of War and her years of wandering as she sought her new place, of repaying the world for the damage she had caused.

And one thing about Azula of the Fire Nation that had remained constant through all the chaos of her long life was her determination that any task to which she set herself would be executed to the absolute fullness of her abilities.

**AN**: Well, it's finally over. It's taken me nearly a year to write and post my Azula Trilogy, but I must admit that I'm rather satisfied by the outcome . I'd like to thank everyone who's come along with me and our favorite messed-up royal on this ride, whether reviewers or just readers. I'd tried to produce something entertaining and in-line with the characters, themes, and story of A:TLA, and I hope that I managed to accomplish that for all of you. If I didn't; well, feel free to PM me- I'm glad to take tips. In any case, now that Azula has come full circle, teaching young benders to avoid her own mistakes, I'm done with this storyline for now. I'll probably be working on other stuff for awhile (you can check out what on my profile if you're interested), though it's distinctly possible I'll return to this continuity sooner or later. Until then, thanks again to all my readers and reviewers, and I hope you have a Happy (insert winter holiday(s) of choice here)!


End file.
